Matthew Reid (politician)

Matthew Reid
Senator for Queensland
In office 1 July 1917 – 30 June 1935
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Toowong
In office 29 April 1893 – 21 May 1896
Preceded by	Theodore Unmack
Succeeded by	Thomas Finney
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Enoggera
In office 23 December 1899 – 11 May 1902
Preceded by	James Drake
Succeeded by	Arthur Hawthorn
Personal details
Born	(1856-09-30)30 September 1856 Ayrshire, Scotland
Died	28 August 1947(1947-08-28) (aged 90) Brisbane, Queensland
Resting place	Cremated
Nationality	Scottish Australian
Political party	Labor (1893–1909) Liberal (1909–17) Nationalist (1917–31) UAP (1931–35)
Spouse(s)	Mary Smart
Occupation	Labour organiser
Religion	Theosophist

Matthew Reid (30 September 1856 – 28 August 1947) was a Scottish-born Australian politician.

Born in Ayrshire, he worked in London as a carpenter before migrating to Australia in 1887.^[1] He was active in the Carpenters' Union and was an organiser of the Australian Labour Federation from 1890. In 1893, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland as the Labor member for Toowong.^[2] Defeated in 1896, he was elected as the member for Enoggera in 1899, serving until 1902.^[2] He served as President of the Queensland Labor Party in 1905, but left the party in 1909 to join the new Commonwealth Liberal Party.

In 1917, he was elected to the Australian Senate as a Nationalist Senator for Queensland. He remained a Senator until his retirement in 1934, by which time he was a member of the United Australia Party, successor to the Nationalist Party.

Reid died in 1947.^[3]

References