George Wells Smailes (1 January 1862 – 9 January 1934) was an Australian politician in the New South Wales parliament, representing the

electoral district of Granville Granville is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales in Sydney's West. It is currently represented by Julia Finn of the Labor Party. Granville includes the suburbs of Clyde, Granville, Ho ...

for Labor from 17 July 1894 to 5 July 1898, and was a Methodist minister. Later he was an Anglican vicar in New Zealand, and a chaplain with the New Zealand garrison in Samoa in World War I. He apparently changed his surname from Smailes to Wells-Smailes in New Zealand. He was born in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

, England. He moved to New South Wales in 1882, and to Sydney in 1891. He moved to New Zealand in 1902, where he was an Anglican vicar at

Te Aroha Te Aroha ( mi, Te Aroha-a-uta) is a rural town in the Waikato region of New Zealand with a population of 3,906 people in the 2013 census, an increase of 138 people since 2006. It is northeast of Hamilton and south of Thames. It sits at the f ...

then Opotiki. He was living at St Heliers, Auckland when he applied to be a chaplain in WWI, recommended by

Arthur Myers Sir Arthur Mielziner Myers (19 May 1868 – 9 October 1926) was a New Zealand politician. He was Mayor of Auckland City from 1905 to 1909, Member of the House of Representatives from 1910 to 1921, and a Cabinet Minister. Today he is remembered ...

an Auckland MP and former mayor. As there were no chaplain vacancies in the NZEF, he was sent as a chaplain (Army No. 19/2131) to Samoa He served with the Samoa Relief Force in 1915 for 213 days, from 30 March to 28 October. He was sent home early by Colonel Logan, and a confidential report by the Anglican Bishop of Auckland (who did not know him personally, as he was not a vicar in his diocese) to the Minister of Defence said he was an adventurer and "cad", He died in Auckland in 1934.

References

1862 births 1934 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly British emigrants Immigrants to Australia Immigrants to New Zealand New Zealand military personnel of World War I New Zealand Anglican priests Australian Methodist ministers New Zealand military chaplains People from Durham, England English Methodist ministers World War I chaplains Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century New Zealand Anglican priests 20th-century English Methodist ministers {{Australia-Labor-NewSouthWales-MP-stub