People Australia

Angus Andrew McDonell [senior] (1867-1950) surgical bootmaker, trade union official, Socialist and mayor 

Birth: 1867 at Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, one of thirteen children of Scottish-born parents William Melrose McDonell (1832-1908), a seaman, later brewery worker, from Ballachilish, Argyll, Scotland, and Catherine, née Andrew (1843-1912), from Fifeshire. Marriage: 1887 at Richmond, Melbourne, to native-born Rosa Miller (1866-1949). They had one daughter and three sons, including Angus Andrew McDonell junior (1891-1948), bootmaker. Death: 5 October 1950 in his usual residence at Tyler Street, Preston, Melbourne. 

• His father was one of the residents of the colony of Victoria who were awarded silver medals and rewards, on 25 June 1860, for rescue work in connection with the wreck of the steamer Admella off Cape Northumberland in August 1859.
• Angus was apprenticed in the boot trade about 1896. Founded the firm of Angus McDonell Pty Ltd, surgical bootmakers in 1897.
• Member of the Northcote branch of the Political Labor Council (later Australian Labor Party) in 1904 and was later secretary for many years. Was a leading supporter of the eight-hour movement.
• Secretary of the Bootmakers’ band in 1906, and had been connected with the Bootmakers’ Union from about 1884.
• Active in the Victorian Socialist Party from 1906 to 1911, both in an executive capacity and as a propagandist in rural areas.
• Standing for Melbourne in the Legislative Assembly election in 1908, as a Socialist candidate, he polled poorly.
• Preached the use of violence to release Harry Holland: “workers were fools if they did not use dynamite or anything else if they could in that way better their conditions” [Solidarity Forever, p 85].
• Member of Northcote Council from 1912 to 1925. Elected mayor of Northcote in 1921-1922. Commissioned justice of the peace in August 1924.
• Went on a tour abroad in 1927. Was a candidate for a vacancy in the Preston municipal council in May 1935.
• Manager of Cerberus Boot Shop. Took an active part in the surgical bookmakers business until he had an eye operation in May 1947.
• Took a keen interest in football, was president of the Victorian Junior Football Association for fourteen years and was sometime president of the Northcote Football Club.
• Cause of death: anoxia (1 day) and sarcomatosis of neck (years).

Sources
Bertha Walker, Solidarity Forever:the life and times of Percy Laidler (Melbourne, 1972)); H. J. Gibbney and Ann G. Smith, A Biographical Register 1788-1939, vol 2 (Canberra, 1987) [NB: has incorrect BDM details]; Worker, (Wagga), 5 July 1906, p 2; Recorder, April 1976 no. 81.