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Fergie Reid (1848–1924)

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Fergie Reid, n.d.

Fergie Reid, n.d.

Fergie Reid (1848-1924) miner, trade union official and parliamentarian 

Birth: 1848 at Ayrshire, Scotland, son of Archibald Reid, gardener, [according to some sources, though his death certificate gives his father as Hugh John Reid] and Margaret, née Gawn. Marriage: 28 December 1874 at Armadale, County of Linlithgow, with Presbyterian forms, to Rachel Menzies (1853-1946), a domestic servant. They had four sons and four daughers. Death: 18 November 1924 at Cottesloe, Western Australia. Religion: Presbyterian. 

  • According to family notes both his parents died when he was about six and he was brought up by an aunt who then abandoned him. He was educated at the local school and began work at 12 in Ironstone mine Linlithgow. In late adolescence he was taught at night by a local dominee Andrew Menzies.
  • Described as a labourer he arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, with his wife and three children aboard the Samuel Plimsoll on 12 June 1879. He worked in Newcastle collieries and lived at Lambton for eighteen years. Was general secretary to Labor Electoral and Social Leagues, Newcastle.
  • Moved to Western Australia in 1896. Worked on the Eastern goldfields. President of the Amalgamated Workers’ Association in Leonora and Malcolm districts; secretary of the Coolgardie branch.
  • Elected member MLA Mt Burges 1901-1904 for Australian Labor Party. Contested Yilgarn 1905 for Independent Labor.
  • After leaving parliament he farmed with his sons at York in 1909 and at Dulbelling in 1912.
  • Commissioned justice of the peace and licensing magistrate to 1905. Chairman of Goldfields Ambulance Society. Retired to Cottesloe.
  • Was a member of the Golden Thistle Lodge of Freemasons, 840 S. C., Coolgardie.

Sources
David Black and Geoffrey Bolton,  Biographical Register of members of the parliament of Western Australia, vol 1, 1870-1930, (Perth, 1990), p 167; Denis Murphy (ed) 1975 p 380.

Citation details

'Reid, Fergie (1848–1924)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/reid-fergie-34604/text43509, accessed 15 November 2024.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Fergie Reid, n.d.

Fergie Reid, n.d.

Life Summary [details]

Birth

1848
Ayrshire, Scotland

Death

18 November, 1924 (aged ~ 76)
Cottesloe, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Cultural Heritage

Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.

Religious Influence

Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included.

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