Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Douglas, Adye
DOUGLAS, Sir ADYE (1815–1906), premier of Tasmania, son of an officer in the army, was born at Thorpe near Norwich on 30 May 1815, and was intended for the navy. He was sent to school in Hampshire, and then to Caen, Normandy, for two years. Returning to England, he was articled to a firm of solicitors in Southampton, and in 1838 was admitted to practice. He emigrated to Tasmania in 1839, and in the same year was admitted to the bar at Hobart. He was, however, soon (1840) tempted to try a squatter's life in Victoria, and there spent two years. Returning to Tasmania in 1842, he founded the legal firm of Douglas & Collins at Launceston, and became one of the leading lawyers in the colony.
In 1853, on the introduction of a regular municipal administration for Launceston, Douglas became an alderman of the town, of which he was subsequently five times mayor. It was about this time he made a name by his vigorous opposition to the system of transportation. He was defeated at his first attempt to enter the council, but in July 1855 he took his seat in the old legislative council as member for Launceston. He was from the first forward in urging the claims of Tasmania to a constitution of greater responsibility. In 1857 he revisited England for a time, and came back to Tasmania full of projects for introducing railways into the colony. In 1862, under the new constitution, he represented Westbury in the assembly. In 1863 he was delegate for Tasmania to the conference on intercolonial tariffs.
In 1871 he was elected member for Norfolk plains and in 1872 for Fingal. On 15 Aug. 1884, Douglas became premier and chief secretary of Tasmania, and after a somewhat uneventful period of office resigned on 8 March 1886 to go to England as first agent-general for the colony. He represented Tasmania at the Colonial Conference of 1887, but in October 1887 resigned his agency and returned, to Tasmania.
In 1890 Douglas re-entered the political life of the colony as member for Launceston in the legislative council, and represented Tasmania at the Federal Convention at Sydney in 1891. He served in the Dobson ministry as chief secretary from 17 Aug. 1892 to 14 April 1894, when he became president of the legislative council; this position he held for ten years, being knighted at the coronation of Edward VII in 1902. In May 1904 he was defeated at the elections for Launceston, and retired from public life. He died on 10 April 1906 at Hobart, where he had come to reside ten years before; he was buried at the Cornelian Bay cemetery.
Of striking personality, he gave the impression of being brusque and unsympathetic, until he was more intimately known.
He was a good fighting leader, acute and tenacious in debate. He was married three times and left issue.
[Tasmanian Mercury and Examiner, 11 April 1906; John's Notable Australians; information checked by the agent-general for Tasmania.]