Paris Nesbit

Something of a child prodigy, by the age of ten Nesbit could speak German, French and Latin, and had translated the works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller into English.

He formed the Articled Clerks' Debating Society with Charles Kingston and edited the organisation's journals; his political views developed in a progressive vein.

In 1896 he formally changed his name to "Paris Nesbit"; he was widely acknowledged joint leader of the Bar with Josiah Symon.

[1] Nesbit's career was dogged by scandal, the first of which broke in 1885 when he was arrested for wilful trespass in Melbourne, apparently pursuing a lady who spurned him.

[1] In Parkside Asylum from January to July 1898, the Kingston government illegally imposed a detention order to avoid his release but was overruled by the Supreme Court.

Nesbit ran unsuccessfully for the South Australian House of Assembly in 1884 and 1896, in the second as a firm opponent of Charles Kingston.