Edwin Kerby

Edwin Kerby
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Ballaarat
In office
13 December 1919 – 2 June 1920
Preceded byCharles McGrath
Succeeded byCharles McGrath
Personal details
Born(1888-04-12)12 April 1888
Died5 July 1971(1971-07-05) (aged 83)
Macleod Repatriation Sanatorium, Macleod, Victoria
NationalityAustralian
PartyNationalist Party of Australia
OccupationMining engineer

Edwin Thomas John Kerby (12 April 1888 – 5 July 1971) was an Australian politician.

Family

The son of James Macklam Kerby (1861—1944),[1] and Margaret Ann Kerby (1856—1941), née Brennan,[2][3] Edwin Thomas John Kerby was born at Ballarat, Victoria on 12 April 1888.[4]

He married Rosina May Prisk (1888—1980), later Mrs. Oliver Gladstone Longstaff, at Ballarat on 3 May 1911.[5][6][7][8][9] He married Elizabeth Beatrice Simons Beauchamp (1898—1986) in 1945.[10][11][12]

Early life

He attended Grenville College, Ballarat, before becoming a mining engineer and electrical contractor.

Military service

He served in World War I from 1914 to 1919. During his service he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.[13]

Politician

In 1919, he was selected as the Nationalist candidate for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Ballaarat, and defeated sitting Labor MP Charles McGrath by one vote, the closest result ever recorded for the House of Representatives. McGrath successfully challenged Kerby's election in the courts,[14] and a by-election was held in 1920 and won by McGrath. Kerby became a businessman, focusing mainly on aviation, and became prominent among ex-servicemen's causes; he held the leadership of the RSL. He died in 1971.[15]

Amateur radio

Throughout his adult life Kerby maintained an interest in amateur radio and held the callsigns VK7EK while resident at Ringarooma, Tasmania (1932 to 1939) and VK3KK while living in Auburn, Melbourne, Victoria (1946 to 1969).[16]

Death

He died at the Macleod Repatriation Sanatorium, in Macleod, Victoria, on 5 July 1971.[17]

Notes

  1. ^ Deaths: Kerby, The Argus, (Thursday, 23 March 1944), p. 2.
  2. ^ Marriages: Kerby—Brennan, The Ballarat Courier, (Wednesday, 8 April 1885), p. 2.
  3. ^ Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Deaths Registration no.16660/1941.
  4. ^ Births: Kerby, The Ballarat Courier, (Tuesday, 24 April 1888), p. 2.
  5. ^ Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Births Registration no.304/1888.
  6. ^ Approaching Marriages, The Ballarat Star, (Saturday, 29 April 1911), p.2.
  7. ^ Weddings, The Ballarat Star, (Saturday, 27 May 1911), p.2.
  8. ^ Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Marriages Registration no.9107/1945 ("Longstaff").
  9. ^ Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Deaths Registration no.11540/1980 ("Rosina May Longstaff").
  10. ^ Birth: Beauchamp, The Zeehan and Dundas Herald, (Tuesday, 22 November 1898), p. 2.
  11. ^ Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Marriages Registration no.792/1945.
  12. ^ Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Deaths Registration no.3341/1986.
  13. ^ "Edwin Thomas John Kerby". UNSW Australia. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  14. ^ Kean v Kerby [1920] HCA 35, (1920) 27 CLR 449.
  15. ^ Carr, Adam (2008). "Australian Election Archive". Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive. Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
  16. ^ Potted biography
  17. ^ Deaths: "Major Edwin Thomas John Kerby, R.L.; E.D.; M.B.E.", The Age, (Wednesday, 7 July 1971), p. 19.

References