Ernest Carr

Ernest "Ernie" Shoebridge Carr (28 September 1875 - 17 September 1956) was an early twentieth century member of the Australian House of Representatives and the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.

Born in Dubbo, New South Wales, the son of a soap manufacturer, Carr was educated at state schools and worked as a journalist and editor of an Orange based newspaper prior to gaining Australian Labor Party pre-selection for the Bathurst based electorate of Macquarie.

Carr won Macquarie at the 1906 federal election, aided by his opponent, the Postmaster General Sydney Smith, residing outside the electorate, the nationwide growth in support for Labor and the strength of the union movement around the industrial city of Bathurst.

Carr comfortably held his seat over subsequent elections until his expulsion from the ALP in November 1916 following his support for conscription. He briefly served as an independent before joining the newly formed pro-conscription Nationalist Party of Australia in February 1917. In one of the closest polling results in Australian electoral history, Carr lost the 1917 election by nine votes.

Following his election loss, Carr returned to journalism and bought a Hawkesbury based newspaper, which served him well when he successfully stood as the Nationalist candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Cumberland in 1920. Carr lost his seat at the 1922 election and after unsuccessfully standing for Cumberland as an independent in 1925, Carr returned to newspaper proprietary until his death in Parramatta. He was survived by his wife, two daughters and two sons.^[1]

Notes

References

• Day, D. (2001) Chifley, Harper Collins, ISBN 0-7322-6702-1