The Honourable
Sir John Cramer
Cramer in 1971
Minister for the Army
In office
28 February 1956 – 18 December 1963
Preceded byEric Harrison
Succeeded byDr. Jim Forbes
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Bennelong
In office
10 December 1949 – 11 April 1974
Preceded byDivision created
Succeeded byJohn Howard
Mayor of North Sydney
In office
20 December 1939 – 6 December 1941
DeputyGeorge Fowle
Preceded byJames Stanton
Succeeded byGeorge Fowle
Personal details
Born
John Oscar Cramer

(1896-02-18)18 February 1896
Quirindi, New South Wales
Died18 May 1994(1994-05-18) (aged 98)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Political partyLiberal
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1922; died 1984)​

Sir John Oscar Cramer (18 February 1896 – 18 May 1994) was an Australian businessman and politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served in federal parliament from 1949 to 1974, representing the seat of Bennelong. He served as Minister for the Army in the Menzies government from 1956 to 1963. He was also mayor of North Sydney from 1939 to 1941.

Early life

Cramer was born on 18 February 1896 at Jacob and Joseph Creek near Quirindi, New South Wales. He was the fourth of six children born to Emily Eleanor (née Cullen) and John Nicholas Cramer; his mother was of Scottish and Irish descent and his father of German descent.[1]

Cramer grew up on his father's farm, attending Gaspard Public School until the age of fourteen. He assisted his father with farm work and later managed a fruit shop in Quirindi. In 1917 he moved to Sydney and began working as a clerk with Paramount Pictures. He and his brother Charles were talented musicians and singers and provided musical accompaniment to silent films. In 1920, they established a real estate firm, Cramer Bros., with an office at Crows Nest in North Sydney. Later joined by another brother, Reg, they achieved success through several business ventures including a syndicate subdividing land in Willoughby and a partnership in a building firm specialising in apartment blocks.[1]

Early political involvement

Cramer in 1939

Cramer became active in politics during the Great Depression, joining the All for Australia League which was later incorporated into the United Australia Party (UAP). After the collapse of the UAP in the early 1940s he joined the Democratic Party and was an unsuccessful candidate in the seat of Lane Cove at the 1944 New South Wales state election. He was subsequently involved in the formation of the Liberal Party of Australia (New South Wales Division) and was elected to the party's provisional executive in January 1945.[1]

In 1931, Cramer was elected to the North Sydney Municipal Council in 1931.[1] He was elected as mayor of North Sydney in 1939 and served until his defeat as an alderman at the December 1941 municipal elections.[2][3] From 1935 to 1956, Cramer served on the Sydney County Council (3rd/4th Constituency).[4] In 1939 and 1945, he was elected Deputy Chairman, and was later elected for three terms as Chairman of the County Council (1946–1947; 1948–1950).[5][6][7][8][9][10]

Federal politics

He was elected to the House of Representatives as the inaugural representative of the seat of Bennelong on its creation in 1949. In 1956, the Prime Minister Robert Menzies appointed him Minister for the Army, a portfolio he held until 1963.[11][12]

On 23 January 1956, on his appointment as army minister Cramer resigned his 4th Constituency seat on the county council.[13][14]

Cramer was the only Catholic in the Liberal Party parliamentary team, a fact Menzies would often joke about.[15]

In 1964 he was created a Knight Bachelor.[16] He announced his retirement from politics in November 1973,[17] and was succeeded by future prime minister John Howard at the MP for Bennelong at the 1974 election. He died on 18 May 1994, aged 98. Cramer had been the last serving parliamentarian born before Federation, and he was the last surviving former MP who was born in the 19th century.[18]

Personal life

In 1922 he married Mary Therese Earls, a teacher, and his elder by two and a half years. The couple had four children: John, Erle, Bronwyn and Leonie.[19] For her four decades of service as a charity worker and community activist, Lady Cramer was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1971.

Dame Mary Cramer predeceased her husband by almost a decade, dying on 23 September 1984 (aged 91).[20]

Writings

  • Cramer, John (1989). Pioneers, politics and people: a political memoir. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. p. 231. ISBN 978-0-04-442104-7.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kingston, Beverley (2021). "Cramer, Sir John Oscar (Jack) (1896–1994)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 19.
  2. ↑ "MAYORAL ELECTIONS". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 31, 812. New South Wales, Australia. 15 December 1939. p. 16. Retrieved 9 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "LABOUR LOSES CITY POLL". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 32, 432. New South Wales, Australia. 8 December 1941. p. 8. Retrieved 9 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "FOURTH TERM IN ROW". The Sun. New South Wales, Australia. 10 January 1945. p. 7. Retrieved 8 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ "McElhone Chairman". The Sun. New South Wales, Australia. 23 January 1945. p. 2. Retrieved 8 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "COUNTY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN". The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 16 January 1946. p. 4. Retrieved 4 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "New Chairman Of County Council". The Sun. New South Wales, Australia. 15 January 1946. p. 5. Retrieved 7 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "SYDNEY COUNTY COUNCIL". Construction. New South Wales, Australia. 30 January 1946. p. 3. Retrieved 7 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ "County Council Chairman Elected". National Advocate. New South Wales, Australia. 21 January 1948. p. 1. Retrieved 7 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ "Tie-up charge in County Council election". The Sun. New South Wales, Australia. 20 January 1948. p. 2. Retrieved 7 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ↑ "The Hon John Howard MP, Member for Bennelong (NSW), First Speech To Parliament". Hansard. Parliament of Australia. 26 September 1974. Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
  12. ↑ MAYORAL ELECTIONS
  13. ↑ "Army Minister Leaves Council". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 January 1956. p. 4.
  14. ↑ "The Sydney County Council - Extraordinary Election". The Sydney Morning Herald. 13 March 1956. p. 15.
  15. ↑ Abjorensen, Norman. "Australia's great political shift". Inside Story. School of Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities, Swinburne University of Technology. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  16. ↑ "Cramer, John Oscar". It's an Honour. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
  17. ↑ "Two MPs retiring". The Canberra Times. 8 November 1973.
  18. ↑ "CONDOLENCES - Hon. Sir John Oscar Cramer". Hansard. Parliament of Australia. 30 May 1994.
  19. ↑ Earls Family Chronicles
  20. ↑ "Cramer, Dame Mary Therese". Australian Women. National Foundation for Australian Women. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
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