May 1919 Paddington state by-election

A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Paddington on 24 May 1919 because of the resignation of John Osborne (Labor) who had accepted an appointment to the Metropolitan Meat Industry Board.[1] The board was responsible for the control and maintenance of abattoirs, cattle sale yards, meat markets, and slaughterhouses in the greater Sydney region.[2] H. V. Evatt described the appointment as intended to deprive Labor of one of its better political organisers ahead of the 1920 election.[3][4]

Dates

Date Event
15 April 1919 John Osborne resigned.[1]
30 April 1919 Writ of election issued by the Governor.[5][a]
2 May 1919 John Osborne appointed to the Metropolitan Meat Industry Board.[6]
10 May 1919 Nominations
24 May 1919 Polling day
7 June 1919 Return of writ

Result

1919 Paddington by-election
Saturday 24 May [3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Lawrence O'Hara 2,613 58.1 +1.0
Nationalist William Harris 955 22.1 −20.8
Independent James Thomson 869 19.3
Independent James Jones 19 0.4
Total formal votes 4,496 98.7 −0.7
Informal votes 59 1.3 +0.7
Turnout 4,555 35.5 [b] −26.4
Labor hold Swing N/A

Aftermath

Lawrence O'Hara's service would be brief, dying just 21 days later on 14 June 1919 as a result of the influenza pandemic.[8] The resulting by-election was held on 26 July 1919.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Ordinarily the writ for a by-election would be issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, however the position of speaker was vacant since the resignation of John Cohen on 30 January 1919 and the writ was issued by the Governor.
  2. ^ Estimate based on a roll of 12,842 at the 1917 election.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b "Mr John Percy Osborne (1878–1961)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  2. ^ "AGY-983 Metropolitan Meat Industry Board". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b Green, Antony. "May 1919 Paddington by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  4. ^ Evatt, H. V. (1954). Australian Labour Leader: The Story of W.A. Holman and the Labour Movement. Angus and Robertson. p. 355. ISBN 0207140413.
  5. ^ "Writ of election: Paddington". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 49. 5 March 1919. p. 1455. Retrieved 30 March 2021 – via Trove.
  6. ^ "Appointments to the Metropolitan Meat Industry Board". Government Gazette Of The State Of New South Wales. No. 97. 2 May 1919. p. 2498. Retrieved 30 March 2021 – via Trove.
  7. ^ Green, Antony. "1917 Paddington". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  8. ^ "Mr Lawrence Joseph O'Hara (1889–1919)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 7 May 2019.