John Lionel Fegan (1862 – 29 December 1932) was a politician and coal miner in New South Wales, Australia. Fegan was born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

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 Grea ...

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 ...

and worked as a coalminer in Northern

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and

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from the age of 16. He married Ann Saggerson in February 1883 and they had one daughter and one son, but he abandoned them in 1896 to travel to

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. He worked as a miner in the

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

area and settled in Wickham. He was employed as a check inspector at Bullock Island ( Carrington) colliery and became a union delegate. He was one of the Labor Party's first members of parliament, elected in 1891 to represent the seat of

in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

. He refused to swear Labor's pledge of solidarity and in 1894 won Wickham as independent labor. He chaired a select committee on working of collieries in 1894 and served on the royal commission on city railway extension in 1897. Along with Labor, he supported

George Reid Sir George Houston Reid, (25 February 1845 – 12 September 1918) was an Australian politician who led the Reid Government as the fourth Prime Minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905, having previously been Premier of New South Wales fr ...

Free Trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...

government from 1894, but moved the motion in 1899, that brought it down. Fegan became Secretary for Mines and Agriculture in

William Lyne Sir William John Lyne KCMG (6 April 1844 – 3 August 1913) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1899 to 1901, and later as a federal cabinet minister under Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. He is best kno ...

Protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

government between September 1899 and April 1901. In April 1901, he resigned his portfolio to take up Lyne's offer for him to become undersecretary in his

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

home affairs department, but opposition in federal cabinet and from Reid prevented him taking up this appointment. He served as minister without portfolio in the

See See or SEE may refer to: * Sight - seeing Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Television * ...

's government from March 1903 to June 1904. He was Minister of Public Instruction and Minister for Labour and Industry from June to August 1904 in

Waddell Waddell may refer to: Places * Waddell, Arizona ** New Waddell Dam, on the Agua Fria River * Waddell Barnes Botanical Gardens, Macon, Georgia * Waddell Creek, a stream in California * E. E. Waddell Language Academy, Charlotte, North Carolina * ...

's government. In 1901, he joined the

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and in 1907, joined the Liberal Reform Party, but was defeated for re-election by the Labor candidate,

William Calman Grahame William Calman Grahame, known as W. C. Grahame, (3 February 1863 – 15 September 1945) was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Wickham from 1907 to 1920. Grahame served as Minister for Agriculture under Premi ...

. He failed at several later election attempts, but with the introduction of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

in 1920, he was elected as the only

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

representative along with four Labor members for Newcastle. The Nationalist party did not suggest any preference between its candidates, and Fegan was defeated, with fellow Nationalist candidate

Magnus Cromarty Magnus Cromarty (1875 – 30 August 1925) was an Australian politician. Cromarty was born in Anna Bay, New South Wales and initially attended Anna Bay Public School, but went to Newcastle to reside with his sister aged 11 and was then educated a ...

picking up the fifth and final seat. He stood again in 1925, but was again defeated. Fegan was a councillor on Wickham Municipal Council from 1917 until his death, and mayor in 1924 and 1931. He was a member of the Newcastle Board of Health from 1909 to 1932. In October 1897, he had married Edith Louisa Edwards, but they had no children. His son David from his first marriage joined him and was killed at Gallipoli. He died at home in Wickham (aged ) and was survived by his daughter and his wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fegan, John Lionel Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Commonwealth Liberal Party politicians Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales 1862 births 1932 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales British emigrants to colonial Australia Ministers without portfolio