Francis de Groot

De Groot was born on 24 October 1888 in central Dublin. He was the son of Mary (née Butler) and Cornelius De Groot. His father's family was of Dutch Huguenot ancestry. He came from "a dynasty of carvers and gilders"; his father was a wood carver and sculptor, while his paternal grandfather exhibited wood carvings at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and Irish Industrial Exhibition of 1852. De Groot attended Blackrock College and Belvedere College in Dublin. He joined the Merchant Navy at the age of thirteen, but later took up an apprenticeship with his uncle Michael Butler, an antiques dealer, for whom he worked for five years in Dublin and London. He remained involved with the military, joining the South of Ireland Imperial Yeomanry in 1907 and serving for six months with the 5th Dragoon Guards in 1909. ==Furniture business==

, 1927 In October 1919, de Groot married Mary Elizabeth Byrne in Donnybrook, Dublin. They had first met in 1910 prior to de Groot's initial departure to Australia. After their marriage they took advantage of a War Office scheme which provided free passage to the Dominions for returned soldiers. They arrived in Sydney in May 1920 and de Groot established his own business as an antique dealer and manufacturer of reproduction furniture. De Groot's Auction Rooms opened in Phillip Street in 1921 and later shifted to Bent Street. Specialising in Queensland maple, his business proved immensely successful and by 1927 he was reportedly employing 200 artisans at his workshop in Rushcutters Bay. However, it has been suggested that the figures he claimed "seem implausible given the size of the Australian furniture market in the 1920s". De Groot had a particular interest in 18th-century furniture styles, translating Chippendale, Adam and William and Mary styles into Australian timbers "with concessions to 20th century housekeeping". One of his most significant commissions in the 1920s was a refit of the David Jones department store chain. In 1934 he received a major commission from The Australia Hotel in Sydney, and the following year he designed a furniture suite for Governor-General Isaac Isaacs to be installed at Government House, Canberra. De Groot exhibited with The Society of Arts and Crafts of NSW in 1937 and advertised widely in interior design publications such as The Australian Home Builder and The Home. Outside of furniture he also collected china, silver, Waterford Crystal, and Persian rugs. ==Politics==

During the 1930s, de Groot joined a fascist paramilitary organisation called the New Guard, which was politically opposed to the more left-wing government and the socialist views of NSW Premier Jack Lang. Many of the members of the New Guard were men who had served in World War I. Seeking to attack leftist meetings, de Groot organised groups of 1,000-strong groups of New Guard members throughout December 1931, commenting later that "the best reply to force, was greater force...seeing that we could command the greater force, [I] saw no reason why it should not be employed". == Sydney Harbour Bridge opening ceremony incident ==

He became famous when, on 19 March 1932, he upstaged Lang at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, before a crowd of 300,000 people. He said this was in protest that the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Philip Game, had not been invited to perform the ceremony. The Mayor of North Sydney, Hubert Primrose, an official participant at the opening ceremony, was also a member of the New Guard, but whether he was involved in planning de Groot's act is unknown. De Groot was also said to have later joined the White Army, another fascist organisation founded in Victoria in 1931. Arrest W. J. Mackay, Chief of the CBI pulled de Groot from his horse, arrested him, and confiscated his ceremonial sword. Initially he was taken to a small police station attached to the toll house on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Later in the day he was sent to the Lunatic Reception House at Darlinghurst, where he was formally charged with being insane and not under proper care and control. On the same afternoon de Groot was examined by Eric Hilliard, psychiatrist and medical superintendent of Parramatta Mental Hospital, who determined that de Groot was not insane. The following day de Groot was examined by W.S. Dawson, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Sydney, and by John McPherson. Both doctors found him to be completely sane. On 21 March 1932, de Groot appeared before Mr. McDougall, Stipendiary Magistrate, for the hearing of the charge of insanity. Detective Superintendent Mackay gave evidence to the effect that de Groot's actions on the Bridge were those of an insane man. Subsequently, Eric Hilliard gave his opinion, based on his examination of de Groot, that de Groot was sane. The magistrate subsequently ordered de Groot's discharge from the Reception House. Charges De Groot was subsequently charged with three offences. The three charges brought against him were: • Having maliciously damaged a ribbon which was the property of the Government of New South Wales to the value of £2; • Having behaved in an offensive manner in a public place; and • Having used threatening words to Inspector Stuart Robson in a public place. The charges were heard on 1, 4, 5, and 6 April 1932 in the Central Police Court in Liverpool Street, Sydney before John Laidlaw, Chief Stipendiary Magistrate of New South Wales. While the first and third charges laid against him were dismissed, the Magistrate did find de Groot guilty of offensive behaviour in Bradfield Highway – a public place. He was fined the maximum penalty of £5, with £4 in costs. The Magistrate found that "... the actions of the defendant were grossly offensive, provocative, and clearly unlawful". Later, de Groot sued the Commissioner of police for wrongful arrest, and case was eventually settled out of court with de Groot receiving damages amounting to £69/1/9 (£ or $138.18). Horse The horse ridden by de Groot at the opening ceremony was a 16.2-hand chestnut named "Mick". The horse belonged to a Pymble schoolgirl, Margo Reichard, and was borrowed by the leader of the New Guard, Eric Campbell, from her father Albert Reichard. After the escapade, the horse was initially taken to the Mounted Police Barracks before being returned to its owner. In about 1933 the horse had a fall while being ridden by Albert Reichard, and was put down. == Later life ==

After the court case he sued for wrongful arrest on the grounds that a police officer had no right to arrest an officer of the Hussars. An out-of-court settlement was reached, and de Groot's ceremonial sword was returned to him. He later returned to Ireland, where he died on 1 April 1969. Before his death, de Groot indicated he would like to see the sword returned to Australia. In 2004, the sword was found on a farm in County Wicklow, in the possession of de Groot's nephew. Plans were announced to have it valued and returned to Australia, possibly as a display at the National Museum of Australia. However, the museum was outbid by Paul Cave, the founder and chairman of BridgeClimb Sydney, the tourism company that conducted climbs across the Harbour Bridge. The sword was presented to Bridge Climb Sydney by prior students of Blackrock College, de Groot's old school, during a school reunion for ex-students now living in Australia. == Gallery ==

{{Gallery |de Groot on horseback in 1932 | alt1 = | alt2 = | alt3 = | alt4 = ==References==