Preceded by Henry Beard Nationality Australian Spouse Cecilia O'Donnell Succeeded by Samuel Dennis | Preceded by Samuel Dennis Name Frank Brennan Role Lawyer Resigned October 31, 1949 | |
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Died November 6, 1950, Melbourne, Australia | ||
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Francis (Frank) Brennan (1873 – 6 November 1950) was an Australian lawyer and Australian Labor Party politician.
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Brennan was born at Upper Emu Creek near Bendigo, Victoria and was a younger brother of Tom Brennan, later an assistant minister in the conservative Lyons government. He studied law at the University of Melbourne 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 in 1910, but won Batman at a by-election in 1911. In 1913 he married Cecilia Mary O'Donnell.
Following Labor's election win in 1929, Brennan became Attorney-General in the Scullin Ministry, but was not particularly effective in this role. However, he lost his seat in the 1931 election as a result of the swing against Labor as a result of the Great Depression and a split in the Labor Party. He'd gone into the election holding Batman with a comfortably safe majority of 25.8 percent, but was defeated by United Australia Party challenger Samuel Dennis on an unheard-of swing of 26.6 percent. He recovered Batman in a rematch against Dennis in the 1934 election and held it until his retirement in 1949.
Brennan was the father of prominent author Niall Brennan, a biographer of both Archbiship Daniel Mannix and businessman John Wren.
Brennan died of hypertensive vascular disease in Melbourne.