People Australia

John Patrick Reilly (also known as Riley) (1852-1908) hospital porter, plasterer’s labourer and trade union official

Baptised: 21 March 1852 at Cahir, County Tipperary, Ireland, son of Dennis Reilly (d.1876) and Ann, née Kennedy (d.1880). Marriages: (1) 4 November 1876 at St John’s Catholic Cathedral, Salford, Lancashire, England, to Sarah Jane Goodwin (1854-1888), cotton weaver, born at Salford. They had four daughters and three sons. (2) 1 December 1894 at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, to Mary Ann, née Goodwin, late Duffy (c.1862-1939), born at Swanlinbar, Cavan, Ireland, a widow with three daughters. They had two daughters and one son. Death: 8 August 1908 at Sydney Hospital, late of Brougham Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney. Religion: Catholic. 

• Served in the Dragoon Guards in England for some years. At his marriage was a hospital porter at Salford, Lancashire.
• On reaching New South Wales aboard the Peterborough as an assistant immigrant on 27 August Reilly 1880 joined the Volunteer Corps in Sydney. On 10 February 1885 enlisted as a private soldier in the NSW contingent to Sudan, embarking in the SS Iberia on 3 March 1885. Returned to Sydney on 23 June 1885 aboard the SS Arab. Was awarded the Suakin medal and the Khedive’s star. Was later attached to the National Guard, formed by Sir George Dibbs.
• In 1893 lived in Woolloomooloo.
• Reilly was a major figure in the Trades and Labor Council (TLC) of NSW  in the 1890s. A member of the United Laborers’ Protective Society (ULPS), he was a voluntary or part-time ULPS official, including secretary 1891-1903, delegate to the TLC of NSW in 1891-1892, 1893-1897 and 1903.
• Was variously member of TLC finance committee, organising committee and executive. Appointed temporary TLC organiser to reorganise maritime and wharf unions in 1892 and 1896.
• Successfully reorganised Sydney Wharf Labourers’ Union in 1892 and 1896, and the Trolley and Draymen’s, and the Stewards and Cooks’ Union in 1896-1897.
• Vice-president of the TLC in 1893-1894, trustee 1895 and auditor 1897.
• Relief works labourer in 1894. Paid organiser for ULPS among railway navies in the Blue Mountains in 1902-1903.
• Removed from office over missing dues monies in 1903.
• Cause of death: “injuries accidentally received through falling down in Palmer street” (coroner’s report, which added the comment “intemperance”). His obituary stated that he had slipped and fractured his skull.

Sources
Worker (Wagga), 11 March 1909, p 26; Peter Sheldon: Trades and Labor Council of NSW (and its various permutations), Minutes, 1891-1910 United Laborers’ Protective Society, Minutes.