Frank Brennan (Australian politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Francis (Frank) Brennan (1873 – 6 November 1950) was an Australian lawyer and Australian Labor Party politician.

Brennan was born at Upper Emu Creek near Bendigo, Victoria and was a younger brother of Thomas Brennan, later an assistant minister in the conservative Lyons government. He studied law at the University of Melbourne and acieved an LL.B. in 1901. He established a legal business specialising in union cases and became a Catholic layman. He joined the Labor Party in 1907 and unsuccessfully contested Bendigo in 1910, but won Batman at a by-election in 1911 and became the first ALP lawyer in the federal parliament. In 1913 he married Cecilia Mary O'Donnell.

Following Labor's election win in 1929, Brennan became Attorney-General in the Scullin Ministry, but was not particularly effective in this role. However, he lost his seat in the 1931 election as a result of the swing against Labor as a result of the Great Depression and a split in the Labor Party. He recovered Batman in the 1934 election and held it until his retirement in 1949.

Brennan died of hypertensive vascular disease in Melbourne.^[1]

[edit] References

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Henry Beard	Member for Batman 1911 – 1931	Succeeded by Samuel Dennis
Preceded by Samuel Dennis	Member for Batman 1934 – 1949	Succeeded by Alan Bird

Persondata
NAME	Brennan, Francis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Brennan, Frank
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Australian lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH	1873
PLACE OF BIRTH	Upper Emu Creek near Bendigo, Victoria
DATE OF DEATH	6 November 1950
PLACE OF DEATH	Melbourne