Charles Frost (politician)

Charles William Frost (30 November 1882 – 22 July 1964) was an Australian politician.

Frost was born in Hobart, Tasmania and educated at Koonya and Margate state schools, but left school at 13. He later worked at the Iron Blow mine near Queenstown. He married Ruth Hornsey Young in October 1906 and they had four children (including Jack, who would sit in the Tasmanian House of Assembly). He bought an orchard near Margate and in the late 1920s he was elected as a member of local Kingborough Council.^[1]

Political career

Frost ran unsuccessfully for the division of Franklin in the Tasmanian Legislative Assembly in 1928. He won a by-election in 1929 for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Franklin for the Australian Labor Party. He lost the seat at the 1931 election, but won it back in the 1934 election. When John Curtin came to power in 1941, he was appointed Minister for Repatriation and Minister in charge of War Service Homes. He narrowly lost his seat at the 1946 election.^[1]

In 1948 Frost became Australian high commissioner to Ceylon, but this appointment was terminated in 1950 by the Menzies government. He died in St John's Hospital, Hobart, survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.^[1]

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