Albert Ogilvie

Albert Ogilvie

Albert George Ogilvie (born March 10, 1890 in Hobart , Tasmania , † June 10, 1939 in Warburton , Victoria ) was an Australian politician of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), who was Prime Minister of Tasmania between 1934 and his death in 1939 . He was after Richard Dry one of two Prime Ministers of Tasmania who died in office.

Life

Ogilvie was a candidate for the Australian Labor Party on May 31, 1919 in the Franklin constituency for the first time to be a member of the House of Representatives (Tasmanian House of Assembly) , the lower house of the Tasmanian Parliament, and was a member of this until his death.

On October 25, 1923, Ogilvie was appointed by Prime Minister Joseph Lyons as Attorney General for the first time in a government of the state and held this office until the end of the Lyons term on June 15, 1928. At the same time, he was Minister for Education from October 25, 1923 to October 12, 1927, as well as Minister for Forestry between March 24, 1924 and October 12, 1927, and from March 26, 1924 to May 10. July 1925 also Minister for Mines .

During his parliamentary membership was elected a successor to Benjamin Watkins in October 1929 Opposition leader and as such was the top candidate in the parliamentary elections on May 9, 1931. In this election, but won Nationalist Party of Australia led by Prime Minister John McPhee 61,414 votes (56.4 percent) and was able to improve its result by 14.2 percent, so that it had an absolute majority with 19 seats in the 30-person House of Assembly. Ogilvie's Labor Party, on the other hand, only received 38,030 votes (34.92 percent) and thus lost 12.23 percentage points and four of their ten seats to date.

In the elections that followed on June 9, 1934, the Nationalist Party under Walter Lee , McPhee's successor as Prime Minister, achieved 54,549 votes (46.72 percent) and thus lost 9.68 percentage points, so that they could only have 13 instead of 19 members . The Labor Party now received 53,454 votes (45.78 percent) and thus gained 10.85 percentage points, so that it was now able to provide 14 members due to the existing electoral law. Three mandates accounted for independents , of which George Carruthers supported the Labor Party.

This made Ogilvie the new Prime Minister of the state on June 22, 1934. In the parliamentary elections of February 20, 1937, the Labor Party was able to improve its result significantly and received 71,263 votes (58.67 percent) and now had its own absolute majority with 18 seats. The Nationalist Party under Henry Baker lost one of its seats and with 47,204 votes (38.86 percent) only had twelve seats.

Ogilvie held the post of Prime Minister until his death on June 10, 1939. He was succeeded by Edmund Dwyer-Gray . Ogilvie was one of two Prime Ministers of Tasmania who died in office after Richard Dry, who died on August 1, 1869.

Web links

• Entry on the homepage of the Parliament of Tasmania
• Ministers - House of Assembly - 1856 to 1950