Frederick Marshall (6 June 1902 – 17 May 1975) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

politician, and a member of the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legisla ...

from 1956 until 1959 representing the seats of Wembley Beaches.

Biography

Marshall was born in Grays,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, to Benjamin Marshall, a general labourer and merchant seaman, and Jane née Rollingson, and was educated locally. In 1922, he arrived in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, living with his family in

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

. On 2 June 1930, he married Irma Priest at St Andrews' Church in Subiaco, with whom he was to have two sons and three daughters. In the 1930s, he worked as a labourer and storeman, and became a foreman of sustenance gangs during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

who were digging contoured channels on dams in the

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

region. By 1938, he was working for the Department of Water Supplies, and moved frequently with his young family as work demanded. He signed up for the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

in 1941, but was rejected on medical grounds and was officially discharged on 9 February 1942. Around the same time, he settled in Innaloo and joined the Electricity and Gas Department of the

Perth City Council Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

(which became part of the State Electricity Commission soon afterwards) as a linesman's assistant, and in 1949 he was promoted to linesman. He also became involved in the

Australasian Society of Engineers The Australasian Society of Engineers (ASE) was an Australian trade union active from 1890 to 1991. It was eventually incorporated into the Australian Workers' Union (AWU). History In 1890, the Australasian Society of Engineers was established a ...

, in which he served as vice-president from 1947, and later as secretary. At the 1956 state election on 7 April, he was elected for the Labor Party to the seat of Wembley Beaches, which had hitherto been considered a safe seat for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. The previous Liberal member,

Les Nimmo Leslie Charles "Les" Nimmo (23 February 1897 – 6 November 1972) was an Australian politician who was a Liberal Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1947 to 1956 and again from 1959 to 1968. Nimmo was born in Ho ...

, had decided to contest the seat of Leederville, and Marshall's strongest support came from his own suburb, where he obtained 66% of the vote. He resigned from his job at the State Electricity Commission and completed a term as a government backbencher. At the 1959 election, with a statewide swing to the Liberals and with Nimmo recontesting the seat, he was defeated. After leaving politics he was employed by the Australasian Society of Engineers until 1962. Subsequently, he was re-employed by the SEC and relocated to

Collie, Western Australia Collie is a town in the South West region of Western Australia, south of the state capital, Perth, and inland from the regional city and port of Bunbury. It is near the junction of the Collie and Harris Rivers, in the middle of dense jarrah fo ...

where he worked as clerk and then site clerk at

Muja Power Station Muja Power Station is a power station east of Collie, Western Australia. It has eight steam turbines served by coal-fired boilers that together generate a total capacity of 854 megawatts of electricity. It is the largest power station in the ...

, before retiring in 1967. He died on 17 May 1975 in Karrinyup and was cremated at

Karrakatta Cemetery Karrakatta Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Karrakatta in Perth, Western Australia. Karrakatta Cemetery first opened for burials in 1899, the first being that of wheelwright Robert Creighton. Managed by the Metropolitan Ce ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Frederick 1902 births 1975 deaths Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People from Grays, Essex 20th-century Australian politicians English emigrants to Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II