William Patrick Connery Jr. (August 24, 1888 – June 15, 1937) was a United States representative from Massachusetts. He was born in Lynn on August 24, 1888, the son of William P. Connery Sr. and brother of Lawrence Joseph Connery.

Biography

Connery attended St. Mary's School at Lynn, Collège de Montréal in Canada, and the College of the Holy Cross. He entered the theatrical profession as an actor. He also was a theater manager. During World War I he enlisted as a private in the One Hundred and First Regiment, United States Infantry, and served nineteen months in France. He was an electric company employee, he engaged in the manufacture of candy, and was secretary to the mayor of Lynn.

He was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-eighth and to the seven succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1923, until his death. He served as chairman of the Committee on Labor Seventy-second through Seventy-fifth Congresses, where he was the House sponsor of the first version of H.R. 7200, the Fair Labor Standards Act, alternatively called the Wagner—Connery Act, written by U.S. Senator Robert F. Wagner. which became law in a later iteration following his death, when it was signed by President Roosevelt on June 25, 1938. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar but did not practice extensively.

Connery had returned by train from a speaking tour in Massachusetts when he was stricken by food poisoning after returning to his home in Washington, D.C.. Experiencing acute abdominal pains, he was taken to the National Homeopathic Hospital.[1] His condition worsened and did not respond to treatment, and Connery died at the age of 48, only 11 hours after he had been admitted,[2] on June 15, 1937. His interment was in St. Mary's Cemetery in Lynn.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rep. Connery in Hospital— Suffers Serious Attack of Food Poisoning", The Boston Globe, June 15, 1937, p.7
  2. ^ "CONNERY DIES OF FOOD POISON— Champion of Labor and Veterans; Wage-Hour Act His Latest Effort", by Charles S. Groves, The Boston Globe, June 16, 1937, p.1
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 7th congressional district

March 4, 1923 – June 15, 1937
Succeeded by


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