Paddy Glynn

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The Honourable Paddy Glynn KC
Minister for Home and Territories
In office 17 February 1917 – 3 February 1920
Prime Minister	Billy Hughes
Preceded by	Fred Bamford
Succeeded by	Alexander Poynton
Minister for External Affairs
In office 24 June 1913 – 17 September 1914
Prime Minister	Joseph Cook
Preceded by	Josiah Thomas
Succeeded by	John Arthur
Attorney-General of Australia
In office 2 June 1909 – 29 April 1910
Prime Minister	Alfred Deakin
Preceded by	Billy Hughes
Succeeded by	Billy Hughes
Member of the Australian Parliament for Angas
In office 16 December 1903 – 13 December 1919
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Moses Gabb
Member of the Australian Parliament for South Australia
In office 30 March 1901 – 16 December 1903 Serving with Batchelor, Bonython, Holder, Kingston, Poynton, Solomon
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Divided into single-member divisions
Member of the South Australian Parliament for North Adelaide
In office 22 May 1897 (1897-05-22) – 1901 (1901) Serving with Richard Wood
Preceded by	Arthur Harrold
Succeeded by	Hugh Denison
Member of the South Australian Parliament for North Adelaide
In office 8 June 1895 (1895-06-08) – 25 April 1896 (1896-04-25) Serving with Richard Wood
Preceded by	George Charles Hawker
Succeeded by	Arthur Harrold
Member of the South Australian Parliament for Light
In office 21 April 1887 (1887-04-21) – 22 April 1890 (1890-04-22) Serving with Jenkin Coles
Preceded by	David Moody
Succeeded by	James Wharton White
Personal details
Born	(1855-08-25)25 August 1855 Gort, County Galway, Ireland
Died	28 October 1931(1931-10-28) (aged 76) North Adelaide, South Australia
Nationality	•Irish •Australian
Political party	Free Trade (1901–06) Anti-Socialist (1906–09) Liberal (1909–17) Nationalist (1917–19)
Spouse(s)	Abigail Dynon ​ ​ (m. 1897; died 1930)​
Children	6
Alma mater	Trinity College, Dublin
Occupation	Barrister

Patrick McMahon Glynn KC (25 August 1855 – 28 October 1931) was an Irish-Australian lawyer and politician. He served in the House of Representatives from 1901 to 1919, and was a government minister under three prime ministers, as Attorney-General (1909–1910), Minister for External Affairs (1913–1914) and Minister for Home and Territories (1917–1920). Prior to entering federal politics, Glynn was involved in the drafting of the Constitution of Australia. Born in Ireland, he arrived in Australia in 1880 and served three terms in the South Australian House of Assembly, as well as a brief stint as Attorney-General of South Australia.

Early life[]

Glynn was born in Gort, County Galway, Ireland and educated at the French College, Blackrock and Trinity College, Dublin. Glynn graduated with a BA and LLB, and was the medallist for Oratory at the Law Students Debating Society of Ireland in 1880. The same year saw Glynn immigrate to Australia.

Glynn was admitted to the Victorian bar. His time in Victoria was not a success and in 1882 he moved to Kapunda, South Australia to open a branch of an Adelaide-based law firm. His success in Kapunda allowed him to open his own law firm in Adelaide and involve himself in the political sphere. He also edited for some time the Kapunda Herald.

South Australian politics[]

Glynn served as president of the South Australian branch of the Irish National League and helped found the South Australian Land Nationalisation Society. His community profile assisted him in his election to the South Australian House of Assembly as the member for Light in 1887. As an advocate of free trade, Glynn was considered a conservative but his support of progressive issues like female suffrage and land nationalisation isolated him from his conservative colleagues.

Glynn was defeated at the 1890 election and stood unsuccessfully for Light again at the 1893 election but returned to South Australian colonial politics in 1895 as the member for North Adelaide. With this victory, he became the first person in Australia to be elected under adult suffrage (whereby females had the right to vote). While he was defeated a year later at the 1896 election, he returned to parliament in a by-election for the seat of North Adelaide in 1897. Glynn briefly served as Attorney-General of South Australia in 1899 and remained in parliament until 1901.

Constitutional convention[]

Glynn was a member of the Convention that framed the Australian Commonwealth constitution in 1897–98. He was regarded as one of the ablest authorities in Australia on constitutional law. He made major contributions to Murray River water rights, free trade, standardising rail gauges and universal suffrage. He also contributed a reference to God in the preamble to the Australian Constitution, and helped found the Free Trade Party, one of the major parties of Australian politics in the early 20th century.

Federal politics[]

First federal election[]

In the lead up to the inaugural federal election, Glynn acted as the informal deputy leader of the Free Trade Party and managed the Free Trade election campaigns in South Australia and Western Australia, while Free Trade leader George Reid oversaw the rest of Australia.^[1] As a result, Glynn was not only comfortably elected to the single statewide Division of South Australia but, together with Reid, he is said to have "created Australia's first national political campaign."

Government minister[]

At the 1903 election, the statewide constituency was abolished and Glynn was returned unopposed in the Division of Angas. He was re-elected on five further occasions, and was unopposed at three consecutive elections (1910, 1913 and 1914).

Despite his ties with Reid, Glynn was not offered a place in the Reid Government (1904–1905). He joined the new Liberal Party after the 1909 "fusion" with the Protectionists, and subsequently served as Attorney-General under Alfred Deakin from 1909 to 1910. He returned to ministerial office in 1913 as Minister for External Affairs in the Cook Government, holding the position until the government's defeat at the 1914 election. In 1917, the Liberals merged with Prime Minister Billy Hughes' National Labor Party, forming the Nationalist Party. Glynn's final ministerial post was as Minister for Home and Territories from 1917 until his defeat at the 1919 election. In that capacity he handled the Darwin rebellion of 1918.

Later life[]

Glynn retired from politics in 1919, and died at North Adelaide in 1931. He married Abigail Dynon, who predeceased him, and was survived by two sons and four daughters. He was a fine Shakespearian scholar; several of his literary papers were published, as were also various legal and political pamphlets.

Legacy[]

In 2016, the Australian Catholic University established a new public policy think tank based at its North Sydney campus, which was named the PM Glynn Institute.^[2]

See also[]

• Hundred of Glynn

Citations and references[]

Citations

References

• McGinn, W.G. (1989). George Reid. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne. ISBN 0-522-84373-5.
• Simms (ed.), M. (2001). 1901: The forgotten election. University of Queensland Press, Brisbane. ISBN 0-7022-3302-1.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
• Henderson, A. (2019). Federation's Man of Letters: Patrick McMahon Glynn. Connor Court, Brisbane. ISBN 9781925826487.^[1]
• O'Collins, G. (1983). "Glynn, Patrick McMahon (Paddy) (1855–1931)". Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9. Australian Dictionary of Biography : Online Edition. MUP. pp. 30–32. ISSN 1833-7538.

Political offices
Preceded by Billy Hughes	Attorney-General 1909–1910	Succeeded by Billy Hughes
Preceded by Josiah Thomas	Minister for External Affairs 1913–1914	Succeeded by John Arthur
Preceded by Fred Bamford	Minister for Home and Territories 1917–1920	Succeeded by Alexander Poynton
Parliament of Australia
New division	Member for South Australia 1901–1903 Served alongside: Batchelor, Bonython, Holder, Kingston, Poynton, Solomon	Divided into single- member divisions
New division	Member for Angas 1903–1919	Succeeded by Moses Gabb