Reginald Pole Blundell (4 February 1871 – 9 August 1945) was a member of the
South Australian House of Assembly
The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the South Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament House in the st ...
from 1907 to 1918 and the
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
The term of members o ...
from 1919 to 1922.
Blundell was born in the
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
suburb of
Norwood and educated at Norwood Public School. He married Alice Clara Gates in 1894. He joined the Tobacco Twisters' Union and was its secretary for eight years. He became secretary of the
United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia and was its president in 1905.
He was a Senate candidate in the
1906 federal election in South Australia, finishing a close 5th, missing out by less than 200 votes. Blundell successfully challenged the election, with the
High Court in June 1907 declaring that the election of the third choice Senator
Joseph Vardon
Joseph Vardon (27 July 1843 – 20 July 1913) was an Australian politician. Born in Adelaide, he received a primary education before becoming a farm worker and apprentice printer, running his own printing business by 1871. He sat on Hindmar ...
was void.
Blundell did not personally benefit from that success as he had subsequently been successful at a by-election in January 1907 to the House of Assembly as one of four members for the seat of
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, representing the
United Labor Party
The South Australian Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch) and commonly referred to simply as South Australian Labor, is the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, originally formed ...
.
At the
1915 election in
Crawford Vaughan
Crawford Vaughan (14 July 1874 – 15 December 1947) was an Australian politician, and the Premier of South Australia from 1915 to 1917. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1905 to 1918, representing Torrens (19 ...
's Labor government he became minister of industry, mines and marine.
In 1917, he left the Labor Party in the
1917 Labor split over
conscription and joined the
National Party. He was minister for repatriation, agriculture and industry in
Archibald Peake's government until his defeat at the
1918 election. At the
1919 federal election, he was elected as a
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 ...
to the federal seat of
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, but was defeated at the
1922 election.
[
Blundell returned to work for W.D. & H.O. Wills as a commercial traveller. He died of ]pernicious anaemia
Pernicious anemia is a type of vitamin B12 deficiency anemia, a disease in which not enough red blood cells are produced due to the malabsorption of vitamin B12. Malabsorption in pernicious anemia results from the lack or loss of intrinsic ...
in the Adelaide suburb of Glenelg survived by his wife, three daughters and three sons.[
]
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blundell, Reginald Pole
Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia
Members of the South Australian House of Assembly
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Adelaide
Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Australian trade unionists
1871 births
1945 deaths
Deaths from pernicious anemia
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of South Australia
20th-century Australian politicians