George Hamilton Lamb (1 January 1900 – 7 December 1943) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

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

from 1935 until his death in 1943, representing the electorate of Lowan for the Country Party.

Early life and teaching career

George Hamilton Lamb and his twin sister Florence were born in

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

, a suburb of

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

, to William Edward Lamb (an auctioneer and schoolteacher) and his wife, Sarah Victoria Lamb (née Irwin), also a teacher. Lamb was educated at Stawell High School, and then graduated in arts and law from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

in 1921. In 1923, he became the headmaster of the Preparatory

Geelong Grammar School , motto_translation = 1 Corinthians 1:30: "For us, Christ was made wisdom"(1 Corinthians 1:30: Christ, who has been made for us in wisdom) , city = Corio, Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , ty ...

where he stayed until 1927. He lectured in English at the

Gordon Institute of Technology The Gordon Institute of TAFE is the Technical and Further Education institute predominantly servicing the wider Geelong area. The Gordon opened in 1887 and celebrated 130 years of providing education in 2017. The Gordon provides education ...

from 1927 to 1931, and was then principal of Kyneton College from 1931 to 1933.Lamb, (George) Hamilton
''Re-Member'', Parliament of Victoria.

Political career

Lamb was elected to the

at the

1935 Victorian state election The 1935 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 2 March 1935 to elect 53 of the 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. 12 seats were uncontested. Background At the 1932 state election, the Un ...

, representing the electorate of Lowan for the Country Party. In 1940, Lamb was one of four Country backbenchers who opposed their leader,

Premier of Victoria The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly ...

Albert Dunstan Sir Albert Arthur Dunstan, KCMG (26 July 1882 – 14 April 1950) was an Australian politician. A member of the Country Party (now National Party), Dunstan was the 33rd premier of Victoria. His term as premier was the second-longest in th ...

, in what was known as the Hocking dispute.

Albert Hocking Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Albert C ...

was a businessman and orchardist who was a powerful political organiser in the Country Party of Victoria. In 1935, Dunstan appointed Hocking as a commissioner of the

State Savings Bank of Victoria The State Bank of Victoria was an Australian bank that existed from 1842 until 1990 when it was taken over by the Commonwealth Bank. It was owned by the Government of Victoria, State of Victoria. History A government-controlled savings bank had ...

. In 1939, Hocking opposed the pre-selection of Dunstan's son, Arthur, leading to a bitter dispute between the two. Dunstan then used a questionable legal pretext to introduce legislation to force Hocking from his position in the State Bank.Costar, B. J.
'Hocking, Albert Edward (1885–1969)'
Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed 28 April 2012. Lamb called Dunstan's action "a gross betrayal and political perfidy".

Military service

On 19 June 1940, during World War II, Lamb enlisted in the

Second Australian Imperial Force The Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF, or Second AIF) was the name given to the volunteer expeditionary force of the Australian Army in the Second World War. It was formed following the declaration of war on Nazi Germany, with an initial ...

, and was posted to the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion. The battalion sailed for the Middle East in April 1941, where they engaged the forces of

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. In early 1942, Lamb's battalion and several other units were returning to Australia on board the SS ''Orcades'', but once the ship landed at

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

, they were ordered to defend

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

against Japanese forces which had begun to move through the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

. The Japanese landed on Java on 28 February, and were engaged at Leuwiliang by a combined American–British–Australian formation called "Black Force". On 8 March, the Dutch surrendered, and Black Force was ordered to surrender the next day.2/2nd Pioneer Battalion Webpage
2/2 Pioneer Battalion Association. Lamb, Tony
From Wimmera to War
Australasian Study of Parliaments Group in Victoria, 11 November 2009. Lamb was captured as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

and was sent to work on the

Burma Railway The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. Lamb was still listed as missing in action at time of the Victorian state election on 12 June 1943, however he was re-elected unopposed to the seat of Lowan.Hammy LAMB
''Fifty Australians'', Australian War Memorial. On 14 September, Lamb's twin sister received a letter from him stating that he was in "excellent health" and was being treated well by the Japanese. On 7 December 1943, Lamb died at the Japanese work camp 131 Kilo in Thailand, suffering from malaria, dysentery and malnutrition. Official notification of his death was not received in Australia until nearly nine months later on 1 September 1944. Lamb is buried at the

Thanbyuzayat Thanbyuzayat ( my, သံဖြူဇရပ်မြို့; mnw, ဇြပ်ဗု, "Reid, Robert and Grosberg, Michael (2005) ''Myanmar (Burma)'' (9th edition) Lonely Planet Publications, Footscray, Victoria, Australiapage 159 ) is a town in ...

War Cemetery in Burma (Myanmar).LAMB, GEORGE HAMILTON
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. A memorial hall in Horsham was named the Hamilton Lamb Memorial Hall in his honour. Confirmation of Lamb's death triggered a by-election in the seat of Lowan, with the writ issued on 28 September 1944, and polling on 4 November.

Wilfred Mibus Johan Wilfred John "Mick" Mibus, known as Wilfred Mibus or Mick Mibus (14 September 1900 – 18 April 1964) was an Australian politician. He was a Country Party representative of the electoral district of Lowan (called Borung from 1945 to 1955 ...

retained the seat for the Country Party.

Personal life and family

Lamb married Marie Christine Schultz on 16 April 1929. They had two sons, Winston and

Tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

, and a daughter, Ainslie. Marie Lamb died in a private hospital in Melbourne after a long illness on 20 February 1941, aged 38. Lamb was serving in the AIF at the time of his wife's death, but was still stationed in Australia. His son,

Tony Lamb Antony Hamilton Lamb (born 7 March 1939) is an Australian former politician. Born in Horsham, Victoria, he was the son of Victorian Country Party politician Hamilton Lamb. He was educated at the University of Melbourne graduating on 14 August 1 ...

, would also go into politics, representing the federal seats of La Trobe (1972–1975) and Streeton (1984–1990) for the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamb, Hamilton 1900 births 1943 deaths Australian schoolteachers Australian Army officers Australian prisoners of war Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Melbourne Law School alumni World War II prisoners of war held by Japan Australian military personnel killed in World War II Australian twins Burma Railway prisoners Australian Army personnel of World War II Missing in action of World War II