George Austin Welsh

George Austin Welsh (August 9, 1878 – October 22, 1970) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.^[1]

Early life

George A. Welsh was born near Bay View, Cecil County, Maryland.^[1] He was the seventh child of George Welsh, Sr. and Sarah Pickering who were natives of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. He was brought to Philadelphia when he was eleven and attended the public schools there. He took business and academic courses at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the age of 16, he went to Bermuda where he engaged as a legislative stenographer and reporter from 1895 to 1901. He was involved in different athletics. He was a long-distance runner and swimmer. From days back in 1896, he met and boxed with professionals at the old Caledonian Club known as "The Stable" and later when as champion of the Schuylkill Navy for three years, he boxed all the leading armatures in the east and also appeared in New Yorks's old-time Madison Square Garden under the ring name of George Austin. He was also passionate about music and had learned and played violin all his life.

Career

Upon returning in 1901, Welsh enrolled in Law School and graduated with a LLB degree from Temple University in 1905. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Philadelphia. He was the Secretary to the Mayor of Philadelphia in 1905 and 1906.^[2] He worked as assistant solicitor for Philadelphia in 1906 and 1907, and assistant district attorney for Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, 1907 through 1922. He was secretary of Temple University from 1914 to 1938, and began serving as first vice president in 1938. He was president of the Republican district executive committee 1914 through 1932. He attended officers’ training camp at Fort Niagara, New York, in 1917. He was a member of the Board of Education of Philadelphia County from 1921 to 1932.^[1]

Welsh was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-eighth and to the four succeeding Congresses and served until his resignation. He served as Chairman of the United States House Committee on Industrial Arts and Expositions during the Sixty-ninth Congress. His resigned after having been appointed judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by President Herbert Hoover on April 14, 1932, to a seat vacated by Joseph Whitaker Thompson.^[3] Welsh was confirmed to the court by the United States Senate on May 19, 1932, and received his commission on May 20, 1932.^[1][4]

In 1934 he ran in the primary to be a candidate for the Governor of Pennsylvania, but was not nominated. He served as judge until August 29, 1957, when he retired to become senior judge. He resided in Lima outside of Media, Pennsylvania, where he continued working as a judge in senior status until his death.^[3] His second home was “Oxford”, an early 1800s home on Bluck’s Point in Bermuda.

Personal life

He married Nellie Ross Wolf of Bermuda in 1906. They had two sons, William Austin Welsh and James Conwell Welsh. In 1921 he married for the 2nd time Helen Reed Kirk and they had three children together, Margaret, Patrick and Deborah.^[5]

Death

Judge Welsh died on October 22, 1970 in Media, Pennsylvania. He was cremated, with ashes interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.^[6]

References

Sources

• "George Austin Welsh". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 
• George Austin Welsh at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

Bibliography

• Brown, William Findlay; Welsh, George Austin (1910). Supplement to digest of laws and ordinances concerning Philadelphia, with notes of decisions and city solicitors' opinions relating there to, 1905-1910. Philadelphia: The Compiler. 
• Congress, United States. Official Congressional Directory. U.S. Government Printing Office. 
• Committee, Judicial Conference of the United States Bicentennial (1978). Judges of the United States. The Committee. p. 548. 
• Willy, Nethanel (2012). George Austin Welsh - United States House of Representatives. p. 80. ISBN 978-6200946584. 

External links

• George Austin Welsh at Find a Grave
• George Austin Welsh at The Political Graveyard