Matthew Charlton Politician
Matthew Charlton (15 March 1866 – 8 December 1948) was an Australian Labor Party politician.Charlton was born at Linton in rural Victoria but moved to Lambton, New South Wales at the age of five. He worked as a coal miner after only a primary education and then married Martha Rollings in 1889. Charlton had an interest in politics from his early middle age, and joined union strikes against wage reductions in 1896.After a two-year stint in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Charlton returned to Lambton and rejoined the local colliery workers' union, becoming its treasurer in 1901. He won a by-election for the NSW seat of Waratah in 1903 and transferred to Northumberland in 1904.In 1910 Charlton won the seat of Hunter and rose through the ranks of Andrew Fisher's government, then staying with the Australian Labor Party during its period in opposition. Charlton rose through the ranks to become party leader in 1922. He lost his first election campaign, partly because he was hospitalised with illness during its course. In 1924 Charlton was invited to a meeting of the League of Nations (now United Nations) but was unsuccessful in getting Australia to adopt the Geneva Protocol, established during the meeting.Due to union strikes in 1925, Charlton and his party lost the election held that year and he resigned in 1928. He died on 8 December 1948.
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