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Fast facts: William Morris Hughes
Personal profile
Born:
25 September 1862, Pimlico, London
Education:
Llandudno (Wales) primary school c.1869–74, part-time law studies (1903)
Employment:
teacher 1874–84, rouseabout, barrister
Memberships:
Balmain and Sydney Mechanics School of Arts debating societies (1892–), Waterside Workers Federation (1899–1916)
Marriage:
26 June 1911, Christ Church South Yarra, Melbourne
Children:
Ethel (1889), William (1891), Lily (1893), Dolly (1895), Ernest (1897), Charles (1899) with Elizabeth Cutts; Helen (1915) with Mary Hughes
Died:
28 October 1952, Lindfield, Sydney
Buried:
Northern Suburbs Cemetery, Sydney
Honours:
KC (1919); Privy Councillor (1916); Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour; Companion of Honour (1941)
Born:
6 June 1874, Burrandong, New South Wales
Memberships:
Australian Red Cross Society
Died:
2 April 1958, Double Bay, Sydney
Honours:
GBE (1922)
Political profile
Terms as PM:
27 October 1915 – 9 February 1923
Terms as MP:
NSW Legislative Assembly: 1894 – March 1901(Lang)
House of Representatives: 9 May 1901 – May 1917 (West Sydney); May 1917 – December 1922 (Bendigo); December 1922 – December 1949 (North Sydney); December 1949 – October 1952 (Bradfield)
Political memberships:
Socialist League (1892–); Balmain Electoral League (c.1891); Australian Labor Party (1901–17); Nationalist Party (1917–29); United Australia Party (1931–45; leader October 1941–); Liberal Party (1945–52)
After:
Delegate to the League of Nations (1932)
Quiz facts
- in 1915 founded Advisory Council for Science and Industry, later CSIRO
- a member of the House of Representatives for 51 years – the longest serving Australian parliamentarian
- helped found three political parties, and was expelled from them all: the Labor Party (in 1916), the Nationalist Party (in 1929), and the United Australia Party (in 1944)
- had more than 100 prime ministerial secretaries
- honoured with fifteen ‘Freedom of the City’ awards – more than any other Prime Minister
- longest-serving Prime Minister until 1956 when Robert Menzies overtook his record 7 years 3 months and 14 days in 1957