George Cann

The Honourable
George Cann
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Nepean
In office
13 April 1910  31 May 1913
Preceded by Eric Bowden
Succeeded by Richard Orchard
Personal details
Born (1871-05-30)30 May 1871
Cramlington, England
Died 18 October 1948(1948-10-18) (aged 77)
Strathfield, New South Wales
Nationality English Australian
Political party Australian Labor Party
Spouse(s) Catherine Roberts
Occupation Miner

George Cann (30 May 1871 – 18 October 1948) was an Australian miner and politician in the Parliaments of Australia and New South Wales.

Cann was born at Shankhouse, Cramlington, Northumberland, England, educated at Cramlington National School and became a coalminer at eleven. He married Catherine Roberts in 1890 and they had one daughter and one son. They migrated to New South Wales in 1900 and Cann worked as a miner near Lithgow and became involved in the Western Miners' Association. He served in the 30th Battalion of the first Australian Imperial Force from March 1916 until January 1918.[1][2]

Political career

Cann won the Australian House of Representatives seat of Nepean at the 1910 election for the Australian Labor Party. He was defeated at the 1913 election. That year he unsuccessfully constested the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Upper Hunter. In 1914, he won the seat of Canterbury and held it to 1920, when it was absorbed into the new multi-member seat of St George; he was one of the members for St George until the abolition of proportional representation in 1927. He was Secretary for Mines and Minister for Labour and Industry from April 1920 to October 1921, when he became Secretary for Mines and Minister for Local Government until the defeat of the James Dooley government in December 1921. He was not reappointed when Dooley regained power some hours later. He became Minister for Local Government and Minister for Public Health in Jack Lang's first ministry in June 1925. He held the Local Government portfolio until March 1926 and Public Health until May 1927. He opposed Lang's leadership and as a result lost preselection for the 1927 election—he ran unsuccessfully as an independent.[1][2]

In 1930, Cann ran unsuccessfully as a Nationalist for the seat of Lakemba. He died in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield, survived by his wife.[1][2]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Nairn, Bede (1979). "Cann, George (1871 - 1948)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Hon. George Cann (1871 - 1948)". Parliament of New South Wales. Archived from the original on 9 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by
Eric Bowden
Member for Nepean
1910 – 1913
Succeeded by
Richard Orchard
Parliament of New South Wales
Preceded by
Henry Peters
Member for Canterbury
1914 1920
Succeeded by
Abolished
Preceded by
William Bagnall
Member for St George
1920 1927
Served alongside: Bagnall/Cahill, Gosling, Ley/Bagnall, Arkins
Succeeded by
Joseph Cahill
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