Jonathan Binns Were

Jonathan Binns Were (25 April 1809 – 6 September 1885) was an Australian politician, member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly and a stockbroker — the eponym of JBWere.

Biography Were was the third son of Nicholas Were, of Landcox, Somerset, by his wife Frances (née Binns) and was born at Wellington, in that county. Paul De Serville observed that "after appearing in Burke’s Commoners, the family was dropped from... subsequent editions. It is hard to escape the conclusion that they were an ascendant family who gained the capricious attention of the Burke's, and then lost it."

In England, Were was in business as a merchant. He married Sophia Mullet Dunsford in 1833, by whom he would have twelve children. He travelled from Plymouth aboard the William Metcalfe from July to November 1839, when he arrived at Port Phillip, now Victoria, Australia, with his wife, infant son Jonathan Henry, and four-year-old daughter Sophia Louisa. Were had laid meticulous plans for the family's life in Australia: "While most newcomers were seeking in vain for tradesmen to build them houses he unpacked his imported house and erected it on a site on the south-western corner of Collins and Spring Streets... it was on the outskirts of the settlement. The home was named 'Harmony Lodge'".

He established himself as a merchant in Melbourne, soon expanding into other business resulting from the 'gold era'- "an advertisement appeared in the Melbourne papers announcing that J. B. Were & Co. were cash purchasers of gold dust, wool and tallow, or would make liberal cash advances on such commodities consigned to their agents, Messrs Frederick Huth & Co., London."

Trading initially under his own name, and then with his brother, George, as importers, exporters, and agents for shipping, land, cattle, sheep and wool; he formed J. B. Were & Son from 1861 with his son, Jonathan Henry, and later, other sons, Francis Wellington and Arthur Bonville, where they became brokers and buyers of gold, and dealt in shares. and was knighted by the kings of Sweden and Denmark in recognition of his service.

Were died on 6 September 1885, in Victoria, Australia. Having married again in 1882, he was survived by his second wife, Elizabeth (née McArthur).