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Victor James Shaw (1875–1936)

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Victor Shaw, n.d.

Victor Shaw, n.d.

Parliament of Tasmania

Victor James Shaw (1875-1936) hairdresser, trade union official and parliamentarian

Birth: 10 March 1875 at Cressy, Tasmania, son of John Shaw (1845-1917), farmer, and Mary Ann, née Higgs (1844-1911). Marriage: 29 April 1908 at the Church of the Apostles, Launceston, to native-born Agnes Mary Birth (1873-1968). They had one daughter and two sons. Death: 14 June 1936 in Hobart Public Hospital at Hobart. Religion: Catholic. 

  • Amongst his several convict ancestors were his paternal great-grandparents William Flint, also known as Shaw (1758-1815), born at St Sepulchre, Holborn, London, England, who arrived in Sydney Cove in 1791 aboard the Atlantic in the 3rd Fleet, and Catherine Neale (1775-1813), who was born at Cork, Ireland, and his maternal grandparents Thomas Higgs (1803-1852), a confectioner born at Manchester, Lancashire, England, and Mary Ann Buckley (1824-?), born at Cork, Ireland.
  • Victor was an apprenticed hairdresser to Mr Wilkinson in his own business in Launceston.
  • He was sometime secretary of the Launceston branch of the Furniture Trades Employees’ Union, secretary of the Launceston branch of the Australian Tramways Union and secretary of the Textile Workers’ Union. He was also president of the Racket Factory Employees’ Union and secretary of the Old Age and Invalid Pensioners’ Union.
  • Secretary of the Launceston No. 1 branch of Australian Labor Party, he contested elections to the House of Assembly for the seat of Bass in 1919 and 1922. He won the seat on 3 June 1925, remaining in office until his death. He was ALP whip from 1929 to 1936.
  • Shaw was sometime vice-president of the Tasmanian League of Nations Union, vice-president of the St Vincent de Paul Society and president of the Hibernian Society.
  • Cause of death: ingenuial hernia and paralytic ileus.
  • His older brother Hector John Shaw (1874-1915), a carpenter, enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 29 January 1915, served with the 13th Battalion at Gallipoli and died of dysentery at Malta on 28 August 1915. 

Sources
Scott Bennett & Barbara Bennett, Biographical Register of the Tasmanian Parliament, 1851–1960, (Canberra, 1980), p.146.

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Citation details

'Shaw, Victor James (1875–1936)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/shaw-victor-james-35211/text44549, accessed 15 December 2025.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Victor Shaw, n.d.

Victor Shaw, n.d.

Parliament of Tasmania

Life Summary [details]

Birth

10 March, 1875
Cressy, Tasmania, Australia

Death

14 June, 1936 (aged 61)
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Cause of Death

ingenuial hernia

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.

Occupation or Descriptor
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