John Madden was one of the earliest law graduates of the University of Melbourne, receiving his LLB in 1865. He was also the first to earn an LLD by examination, in 1869 (having failed at his first attempt the previous year).
Madden was born in Ireland in 1844, and arrived in Melbourne with his family in 1857. After university, he was admitted to the Victorian bar and practised as a barrister until 1893, when he was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
John Madden first entered politics at the general election of 1874 when he won the seat of West Bourke. He lost the seat the following year, but in 1876 won the seat of Sandridge (Port Melbourne) which he held until 1883, holding office as Minister of Justice.
Madden held a number of positions at the University of Melbourne: Warden of the Senate in 1875–82, a member of the University Council from 1879 and Chancellor of the University from 1897 until his death.
Madden was in many ways a traditionalist. He argued that Latin should remain part of the law course, and was one of the leaders of the barristers' boycott that defeated the attempt to amalgamate the two branches of the Victorian legal profession in 1891. Though publicly sceptical about women's legal abilities, he was an early supporter of the admission of women students to the University, and welcomed Flos Greig when she was admitted to practise in 1904.
Sir John Madden was knighted in 1893 and died in 1918 at South Yarra, Melbourne.
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