John Haynes

John Haynes (26 April 1850 – 15 August 1917) was a parliamentarian in New South Wales, Australia for five months short of thirty years, and co-founder, with J. F. Archibald, of The Bulletin.

Early life

Haynes was born in Singleton, New South Wales, son of John Haynes, a schoolteacher, and his wife Margaret, née Daly. He was apprenticed as a compositor with the Morpeth Leader, and worked for several country newspapers. In 1871, he married Sarah Belford and they had five sons and one daughter. In 1873 he moved to Sydney. In 1880, he founded The Bulletin with Archibald, and in 18 months built its circulation in up to 15,000. He believed in serious provocative journalism, especially exposure articles. As the result of one article, written by William Henry Traill, they were sued by the owner of the Clontarf pleasure gardens. They refused to pay the costs of the resulting libel action and Haynes and Archibald were imprisoned for six weeks in 1882. Whilst the government survived the motion, parliament was dissolved on 6 June 1891 and Haynes held his seat of Mudgee as an independent free trader. He was a humorous but boisterous member of Parliament, and his accusations of corruption involved him in bitter arguments and physical aggression, including an attack on the Protectionist member Paddy Crick in 1893. He married his third wife, Esther Campbell, in 1899 and they had one daughter and one son. In 1904, he was narrowly defeated for Mudgee, with a margin of just 14 votes (0.2%), and continued to lose elections until elected to Willoughby in 1915, but he was defeated in 1917.

Death

Haynes died at his residence at Alfred Street, North Sydney from heart failure supervening Influenza. He was buried on 17 August 1917 in the Presbyterian section of Rookwood Cemetery.