The Hon Alexander Raff |
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Member of the Queensland Legislative Council | |
In office 14 August 1884 – 10 June 1910 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
Alexander Raff 20 July 1820 Forres, Elginshire, Scotland |
Died | 26 January 1914 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
(aged 93)
Resting place | Toowong Cemetery |
Nationality | Scottish Australian |
Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Millar Patterson (m.1862 d.1909) |
Relations | George Raff (brother) |
Occupation | Curator, Company director |
Alexander Raff (1820–1914) was a politician in Queensland, Australia. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council.
Raff was born in Forres, Elginshire, Scotland, in July 1820, as the third son of James and Margaret Raff. Raff arrived in New South Wales in 1845, following his eldest brother, George Raff, who had arrived in 1841. After first settling in Victoria pursuing pastoral interests, Raff arrived in Brisbane, aboard the Souvenir schooner on April 9, 1851.
Raff purchased two blocks of land on what was to become Gregory Terrace in Spring Hill on May 14, 1860 for £312.4.3. A third adjacent block was subsequently bought by Raff in 1864 from the original 1860 purchaser, John Frederick McDougall.
In January 1861, Raff was seriously injured when he was thrown from his horse.
Raff married Elizabeth Millar Patterson, the elder daughter of a prominent Scottish medical family, in Sydney on June 5, 1862. The newly weds arrived in Brisbane aboard the Balclutha on June 13, 1862. Raff and his wife Elizabeth had seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood. At some point prior to the birth of his first child, Jessie Watson, on 18 April, 1863, the now heritage-listed house Grangehill was built on the Gregory Terrace site and occupied by Raff's family.
In 1865 Raff was appointed to the position of Official Assignee of Insolvent Estates, and in 1868 he was promoted to the position of Curator of Intestate Estates. The Official Assignee was responsible for collecting the assets of an insolvent debtor and distributing them among the creditors; the Curator of Intestate Estates administered the estate of deceased persons, thought to have died intestate.
Raff continued his pastoral interests in Queensland, on his property, Logie Plains on the Darling Downs. For many years from the 1880s, Raff was a partner of Smellie and Co, looking after the financial interests of the company.
In August 1884 Raff was appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council.