Francis Brennan (1873 – 6 November 1950) was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 and Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

.

Brennan was born at Upper Emu Creek near Bendigo, Victoria

Bendigo, Victoria

Bendigo is a major regional city in the state of Victoria, Australia, located very close to the geographical centre of the state and approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the second largest inland city and fourth most populous city in the state. The estimated urban...

 and was a younger brother of Tom Brennan, later an assistant minister in the conservative Lyons

Joseph Lyons

Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...

 government. He studied law at the University of Melbourne

University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...

 and achieved an LL.B. in 1901. He established a legal business specialising in union cases and became a Catholic layman. He joined the Labor Party in 1907 and unsuccessfully contested Bendigo

Division of Bendigo

The Division of Bendigo is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for the city of Bendigo...

 in 1910, but won Batman

Division of Batman

The Division of Batman is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1906 , and is named after John Batman, one of the founders of the city of Melbourne. When it was created it covered the inner suburbs of Carlton and Fitzroy, but successive boundary changes have...

 at a by-election in 1911. In 1913 he married Cecilia Mary O'Donnell.

Following Labor's election win in 1929

Australian federal election, 1929

Federal elections were held in Australia on 12 October 1929. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, with no Senate seats up for election, as a result of Billy Hughes and other rebel backbenchers crossing the floor over industrial relations legislation, depriving the...

, Brennan became Attorney-General

Attorney-General of Australia

The Attorney-General of Australia is the first law officer of the Crown, chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia and a minister of the Crown. The Attorney-General is usually a member of the Federal Cabinet, but there is no constitutional requirement that this be the case since the...

 in the Scullin Ministry

Scullin Ministry

The Scullin Ministry was the twentieth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 22 October 1929 to 6 January 1932.Australian Labor Party*Rt Hon James Scullin, MP: Prime Minister, Minister for External Affairs, Minister for Industry...

, but was not particularly effective in this role. However, he lost his seat in the 1931 election

Australian federal election, 1931

Federal elections were held in Australia on 19 December 1931. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

 as a result of the swing against Labor as a result of the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 and a split in the Labor Party. He recovered Batman in the 1934 election

Australian federal election, 1934

Federal elections were held in Australia on 15 September 1934. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent United Australia Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons with coalition partner the Country Party led...

 and held it until his retirement in 1949.

Brennan is the father of prominent author the late Niall Brennan, a biographer of both Archbiship Daniel Mannix

Daniel Mannix

Daniel Mannix was an Irish-born Australian Catholic bishop. Mannix was the Archbishop of Melbourne for 46 years and one of the most influential public figures in 20th century Australia....

 and businessman John Wren

John Wren

John Wren was an Australian businessman. He has become a legendary figure thanks mainly to a fictionalised account of his life in Frank Hardy's novel Power Without Glory, which was also made into a television series...

.

Brennan died of hypertensive vascular disease in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

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