Job Sheldon

Job Sheldon (1849 – 28 September 1914) was an English-born Australian politician.

The son of medical practitioner James Sheldon and Elizabeth Stafford, he enlisted in the army at the age of eighteen and became the regiment's schoolmaster. He married Eliza Sophie Bouchard in 1869; they had three daughters, one died not long after birth, and a son John Stafford Sheldon. Eliza died in 1881 and Job migrated to New South Wales, Australia, in 1883; his three surviving children joined him in 1884. He initially lived with his uncle in Muswellbrook until moving to Narrabri to work as a clerk. A second marriage, on 5 August 1890 to Harriett Emily Halls, produced a daughter Myrtle (born 1891) who died as an infant and a son, Cecil Job (born 1893), who served with the 1st Light Horse Regiment in WWI and was killed in Gallipoli during the "August Offensive" on 7 August 1915.In 1891 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Namoi, representing the new Labor Party. Disagreements regarding the policy pledge resulted in his contesting the 1894 election unsuccessfully as a Protectionist. He became a land agent after leaving politics. Sheldon died at Petersham in 1914.^[1]