Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Monday 5 May 1930, page 13


DEATH OF MR. A. McNAB.

OLDEST PRACTISING SOLICITOR.

A large circle of friends will regret to learn of the death on Saturday last of Mr. Alexander McNab, senior partner of Messrs. Chambers, McNab, and Co., the well-known firm of solici-tors, which, in 1885, succeeded Messrs. Chambers, Bruce, and McNab, of Ade-laide-street, Brisbane.

The late Mr. McNab, who was born in Brisbane, in 1862, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander McNab, of Blair Atholl, Scotland, and was the oldest practising solicitor in Brisbane, having been articled to the late Mr. A. W. Chambers in 1878, and admitted as a solicitor on March 4, 1884. He entered into partnership with the late Mr. A. W. Chambers, and the late Mr. J. R. Baxter Bruce in 1885, under the name of Chambers, Bruce, and McNab. Mr. Bruce went to practice in Sydney in 1895, and the business continued under the same name until 1907. Then Mr. J. C. Roberts was admitted as a partner, and the firm name was changed to Chambers and McNab. It

MR. ALEXANDER McNAB.

was in 1908 that the late Mr. R. J. McNab joined the firm, and the name was changed to Chambers, McNab, and McNab. Mr. A. W. Chambers died in 1910, and two years later Messrs. W. J. Trotter and Dudley McNab were admitted as members of the firm. Mr. R. J. McNab died in 1928, and shortly after his death the name was changed to Chambers, McNab, and Co.

For many years the late Mr. Alex-ander McNab was a member of the Queensland Club, the Brisbane Club, and the Johnsonian Club, being presi-dent of the latter. He was a member of the Stephens Shire Council from 1904 to 1907, and during two of those years acted as chairman. During his term the first street tree planting was inaugurated on Ipswich-road, and through his instrumentality the water supply was extended to the Yeronga

district.

He was a prominent bowler, and was one of the pioneers who laid the foundations of the Queensland Bowl ing Association. He was an old mem-ber of the South Brisbane and Boo-roodabin Bowling Clubs, being a rep-resentative at association meetings. He was elected vice-president of the asso-ciation in May, 1905, and in that year he formed one of a party which visited Sydney. In May, 1906, he was pro-moted to the chair, and retained that position until 1908, when he resigned owing to ill-health. He retired for a year, but was elected again as presi-dent from 1909 until 1912. He then vacated the president's chair.

An interesting feature of the late Mr. McNab's history is that he went to the Brisbane Grammar School in 1875, and was educated with boys who later took a prominent part in shaping the destiny of Queensland, and that his son, Dudley Alexander McNab, went to this school in 1901, to be followed 18 years later by the grandson, Alex-

ander Charles McNab.

The late Mr. McNab resided at Blair Atholl, Rossiter-parade, Hamilton. His home has always been named Blair Atholl, after the place where his parents were born in Scotland. He was a Notary Public and Commissioner for Affidavits of all the Australian States. For many years he took a deep interest in Freemasonry, and held office as Senior Grand Warden

under the Grand Lodge of Queens-

land.

The late Mr. McNab was married twice--first to Miss Barbara Westa-way, by whom there was issue four children--Mr. Dudley McNab, who now is associated with the business, Mr. A. B. McNab, who is engaged in agricul-ture in the Mary Valley district, Mrs. W. F. Coe (wife of Dr. W. J. Coe, a

well-known Brisbane dentist), and Mrs. H. H. Rouse (whose husband recently became manager for the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Company at Capetown)--and secondly to Miss Lucy I. Dickson (who survives him), a daughter of the late Sir J. R. Dickson. He was twice in England; once dur-ing 1914, when the war broke out, and when some difficulty was experienced in returning to Australia, and again during 1927. The late Mr. McNab was one of the fine type of gentlemen whom Queensland can ill-afford to lose--manly, straightforward, and honest in every particular.

The funeral will take place at 10 o'clock this morning, from the de-ceased's late residence to the Toowong

cemetery.