Areas of Interest Guide: Digby Denham

This is grave number 3B-93. These ‘areas of interest’ are marked on the entry signs in the cemetery.

Digby Denham
The Denham grave.

Digby Denham was the 18th Premier of Queensland (February 1911 – June 1915). He was born in Somerset, England. A resident of Annerley Road and a successful businessman, he entered local government in 1893 as member of the Stephens Divisional Board, and in 1902 was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Oxley. He served as minister for both agriculture and public works before becoming premier. in 1911, but when the Liberals were defeated in the 1915 election, and he lost his own seat. Until Campbell Newman did the same thing in 2015, Denham was the only politician to lose government and his own seat in the same election.

He was a keen supporter of the establishment of the University of Queensland and the building of a Women’s College. He also worked hard in support of a Queensland ambulance service. The name Annerley, which was adopted from a place of that name in England, was selected by Denham.

He was married to Alice Maud Knight (1857-1950) and they had three children together. When he died on May 1944 at Annerley, his family declined a state funeral and he became the only Premier to be interred in this cemetery.
Digby Denham
Digby Denham. (SLQ)

Read moreDigby Denham (Australian Dictionary of Biography).

Nearby ‘Areas of Interest’

David Gillies (Gallipoli hero) – Portion 3A
Thomas and Williamina Mowbray (early East Brisbane) – Portion 3B
Minna Rowe (businesswoman) – Portion 3B
Christina Sailer (German graves) – Portion 3B
Robert Shipp (cemetery sexton) – Portion 3B
James Brunton Stephens (poet) – Portion 2A
Selina Brown (drowning victim) – Portion 2F