Greg McGirr

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John Joseph Gregory ("Greg") McGirr (11 October 1879 – 23 March 1949) was an Australian politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.

He was the second son of John Patrick McGirr, farmer and Irish Migrant, and Mary O'Sullivan; and he was born in Parkes, New South Wales. (James McGirr, Premier of that state from 1947 to 1952, was one of his younger brothers.) Educated at St Joseph's Convent, Parkes, and St Stanislaus' College, Bathurst, Greg graduated in pharmacy from the University of Sydney in 1904.[1] He opened chemist shops at Peak Hill, Parkes, Orange, Narromine, and eventually Sydney. He was also heavily involved in land and stock trading. Despite his wealth he joined the Australian Labor Party, along with many other Catholics.

In 1910 McGirr ran unsuccessfully for the seat of Orange, but won Yass at a by-election in 1913. In 1914 he married Rachel Rittenburg Miller BA, a schoolteacher.[2] He was ALP whip from 1916 until 1917. At the 1920 election proportional representation was introduced to most of the State and the Yass electorate was absorbed into an expanded multi-member electoral district of Cootamundra, and he won a seat in it. Labour won the election he became Minister for Public Health and Motherhood until the defeat of the Government in the 1922 election. He was also deputy party leader after the death of John Storey in 1921. In 1922, he won a seat in Sydney and became party leader as a result of the expulsion of its leader James Dooley from the party in March 1923. The Federal Labor Executive then intervened in the State Party and Jack Lang became party leader in July 1923.

As a result of his involvement in the previous machinations, McGirr was isolated and resigned from the party in July and attempted to establish the "Young Australia Party". He was defeated at the 1925 election and subsequently concentrated on his business interests, except for an unsuccessful attempt to win Calare for the State (Hughes-Evans) Labor Party in September 1940. He died in Sydney, survived by his wife and eight of his nine children.[2] Another one of his brothers was Patrick Michael McGirr, yet another New South Wales politician.[1] One of his daughters, Trixie, moved to Britain where she became a Conservative politician and is the only Australian woman made a life peeress of the United Kingdom parliament, as Trixie Gardner, Baroness Gardner of Parkes.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Mr John Joseph Gregory McGirr (1879 - 1949). Members of Parliament. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
  2. ^ a b McGirr, John Joseph Gregory (1879 - 1949). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.


Persondata
NAME Macgirr, John Joseph Gregory
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Macgirr, Greg
SHORT DESCRIPTION New South Wales politician
DATE OF BIRTH 11 October 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Parkes, New South Wales
DATE OF DEATH 23 March 1949
PLACE OF DEATH Sydney, New South Wales