George Lansell

George Lansell
Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Bendigo
In office
1 June 1928 – 1 June 1952
Preceded byJoseph Sternberg
Succeeded byArthur Smith
Personal details
Born3 October 1883
London, United Kingdom
Died9 January 1959
Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
NationalityBritish-Australian
Political partyNationalist, Country, Liberal and Country
Spouse
Edith Florence Gwendoline Frew
(m. 1910)
Children3

Sir George Victor Lansell CMG VD (3 October 1883 – 9 January 1959) was an English-born Australian politician.

Lansell was born in London the elder son of mining entrepreneur of George Lansell (the Bendigo 'Quartz King'), and his second wife Harriet Edith, née Bassford.[1] He was educated at St Andrew's College, Bendigo and at Melbourne Grammar School, and in 1906 inherited his father's estate of £6 million.[2] He owned the Bendigo Independent newspaper and merged it with the Bendigo Advertiser in 1918, and was chairman of a large number of media and other companies around regional Victoria. During World War I he served in the AIF with the 38th Battalion, becoming a captain but being wounded on the Western Front. In 1923 he was awarded the Volunteer Decoration and promoted to commanding officer of his battalion; he was raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1927 and appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1937.[1]

In 1928 he had won election to the Victorian Legislative Council as a Nationalist member for Bendigo Province.[3] In 1944 he defected to the Country Party, but he joined the Liberal and Country Party in 1949;[1] he remained sympathetic to the Country Party government of John McDonald. Lansell was knighted in 1951,[1] but lost his seat in the council in June the following year.[3] He died in Bendigo in 1959.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Peoples, Kevin (1983). "Sir George Victor Lansell (1883–1959)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 9. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
  2. ^ Lansell, Sir George Victor at the Wayback Machine (archived 2 September 2012)
  3. ^ a b "Sir George Victor Lansell". Members of Parliament. Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 9 August 2025.