Summary heading
Hon Patrick McMahon Glynn (CP 3)
Career within Commonwealth
Patrick (Paddy) McMahon Glynn was born in Gort, County
Galway in Ireland. In 1875 he entered Trinity College Dublin, graduated with degrees
in arts and law and was called to the Irish Bar in 1879. He was also a
medallist in the Law Students’ Debating Society for Ireland in 1880, the same
year he migrated to Australia. Glynn was called to the Bar in South Australia
in 1883 and practised law with the firm Hardy and Davis in Kapunda, during
which time he was also editor of the Kapunda Herald (1883-91), a founder of the
South Australian Land Nationalisation Society (1884) and President of the Irish
National League in South Australia. He was a member of the South Australian
House of Assembly on three occasions, representing Light (1887-90) and North
Adelaide (1895-96 and 1897-1901), and was Attorney General for a short time in
December 1899. His success at the 1895 by-election for North Adelaide made him
the first person to be elected in Australia at an election held under adult
suffrage.
Respected for his knowledge of constitutional law, Glynn was
one of ten South Australian delegates to the Federal Convention (1897-98) and a
member of its Judicial Committee (1897), before being elected to the first
Commonwealth Parliament as a South Australian representative (from 1903, member
for Angas). He was re-elected at subsequent elections (unopposed on four occasions)
until his defeat at the general election in December 1919. Initially a Free
Trader, Glynn later aligned with the Anti-Socialists (1906), then the Liberals
(1910) and finally the Nationalists (1917).
During his federal Parliamentary career, Glynn held the
portfolios of Attorney General in Deakin’s ‘Fusion’ Government (1909-10),
External Affairs in Cook’s Liberal Government (1913-14) and Home and
Territories in Hughes’ Nationalist Government (1917-20). He was also a member
of the Select Committee on Decimal Coinage (1901); took particular interest in
the control and use of inland rivers, including as Counsel for South Australia
on the Murray River question (1905); was Chairman of the Commonwealth
Practitioners Board (1909-10); visited England at the invitation of the Empire
Parliamentary Association (1911); supported Australia’s involvement in World
War I, including fair treatment of aliens; and investigated matters relating to
the ‘Darwin Rebellion’ (1918-19).
At the time of his electoral defeat in 1919, Glynn was the
last Federal Conventionist in federal Parliament. He returned to legal practice
but attended the opening of Parliament House in Canberra (May 1927), one of
three surviving members of the 1901 Parliament to do so. Appointed a King’s
Counsel (KC) in 1913, Glynn died in North Adelaide in 1931.
Links to other Commonwealth Persons
Publications
Include:
The Manifesto of the South Australian Land Nationalisation
Society (1884)
Federalism: its Principle and Application (1890)
A Review of the River Murray Question, Riparian Rights etc
(1891)
Great Britain and its Colonies: the Obstacles to Imperial
Federation (1892)
The Interstate Rivers Question (1902)
Imperial Union and Fiscal Reciprocity (1904)
Federal Constitution: the Proposed Amendments (1915)
The Dominions and Imperial Union (c1920)
The League of Nations: its Historical Relations and Basis
(c1920)
End notes
Sources
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 9 (1891-1939), pp
30-2
Commonwealth Parliamentary Handbook 1901-1920, p 133
Who’s Who in Australia 1922, pp 107-8
Summary heading
Unregistered links
Apr 1887-Apr 1890:
South Australian House of Assembly – Member for Light
Jun 1895-Apr 1896:
South Australian House of Assembly – Member for North Adelaide
May 1897-Mar 1901:
South Australian House of Assembly – Member for North Adelaide
1901-1901: Select
Committee on Decimal Coinage