Sir Alexander George Wales (11 October 1885 – 31 May 1962) was an Australian businessman and politician. He was born in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

to contractor Alexander Wright Wales and Rosanna Poynton; his uncle

Alexander Poynton Alexander Poynton OBE (8 August 1853 – 9 January 1935) was an Australian politician. He held ministerial office under Prime Minister Billy Hughes, serving as Treasurer (1916–1917), Minister for Home and Territories (1920–1921), and Postm ...

was federal treasurer. He attended state school at Brunswick and studied at night school while working as a labourer on the railways. From 1903 he worked as a public service clerk and from 1907 as a secretary for the Albion Quarry Company. In 1911 he married Ethel May Bromet, with whom he had a daughter. He eventually rose to the position of managing director of the Albion Quarry Company, and also had the directorship of Alba Petroleum and

Ampol Ampol Limited is an Australian petroleum company headquartered in Sydney, New South Wales. Ampol is the largest transport energy distributor and retailer in Australia, with more than 1,900 Ampol-branded stations across the country . It also ope ...

. From 1914 to 1924 he served on Brunswick City Council (mayor from 1917 to 1918) and from 1925 to 1954 on

Melbourne City Council The City of Melbourne is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. In 2018, the city has an area of and had a population of 169,961. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. The ci ...

(mayor from 1934 to 1937). In 1936 he won a by-election for the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Co ...

Melbourne Province Melbourne Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council (Australia). Melbourne Province was created in 1882 when Central Province was abolished in the redistribution of Provinces. Its area included central Melbourne, Carlto ...

, representing the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

. Knighted in 1937, he resigned in 1938 due to an alleged conflict of interest. From 1947 to 1948 he was president of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce. Wales died in

Elsternwick Elsternwick is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Elsternwick recorded a population of 10,887 at the 2021 ...

in 1962.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wales, George 1885 births 1962 deaths United Australia Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Mayors and Lord Mayors of Melbourne Australian Knights Bachelor 20th-century Australian politicians People from Richmond, Victoria