People Australia

George Hughes Hay (1869-1939) tanner, trade union leader

Birth: 9 January 1869 at Flint, Wales, Great Britain, son of Adam Alexander Hay, steward, and Ellen, née Hughes. Marriage: (1) 2 July 1880 in St Margaret’s Church, Woodville, South Australia, to Euphemia Miller Allan Logan (d.1901). They had five daughters and two sons. (2) 8 February 1910 in Richmond, Victoria, to Mary McLean. They had two sons and one daughter. Death: 1 September 1939 in Burnley, Richmond, Victoria.

• Arrived in Australia about 1872.
• Member, Tanners’ and Leather Dressers’ Union. Represented union on the committee of Maritime Strike, 1890.
• Delegate, Trades Hall Council, early 1890.
• Secretary, Progressive Political League, Richmond Branch, which was the forerunner of the Political Labor Council and the Australian Labor Party.
• Served as a corporal in the NSW division of the 3rd Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse, with the Australian forces in the war in South Africa. Embarked on the transport Manhattan on 1 April 1902. Upon peace being declared embarked from Durban on Drayton Grange on 12 July and reached Sydney on 11 August 1902.
• Secretary, Lift Attendants’ Union.
• Cause of death myocarditis and chronic neuritis.

Sources
Obituary, Labor Call, 7 Sept. 1939, p 9: