{{Short description|Politician from New South Wales, Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=December 2015}} '''George McCredie''' (1 January 1859 – 4 February 1903) was an Australian politician.
He was born at Pyrmont, New South Wales, Australia and attended Fort Street Public School before becoming an apprentice carpenter at the age of fourteen. He worked in northern Queensland for the Australasian Steam Navigation Company before returning to Sydney to work as a consulting engineer.<ref name="George McCredie NSW parl"/> After a world tour in 1883, he lived at Guildford by 1891, becoming an alderman on Prospect and Sherwood Municipal Council,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224308978 |title=Municipal district of Prospect and Sherwood: alderman elected |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |issue=220 |date=7 April 1891 |access-date=26 August 2020 |page=2587 |via=Trove}} </ref> and was the mayor from 4 February 1892 until 20 February 1895.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222976152 |title=Municipal district of Prospect and Sherwood: Mayor |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |issue=84 |date=9 February 1892 |access-date=26 August 2020 |page=1127 |via=Trove}}</ref>
During 1891 he designed and built Linnwood, his home at Guildford.<ref name=nswshr-1661>{{cite NSW SHR|5052822|Linnwood|hr=01661|fn=EF14/4743; H00/00649|accessdate=26 August 2020}}</ref> He was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as a Free Trade member for Central Cumberland at the 1893 by-election.<ref>{{cite NSW election |title=1893 Central Cumberland by-election |year=1891 |district=Central Cumberland_2 |accessdate=26 August 2020}}</ref> Central Cumberland, along with other multi-member districts, was abolished in 1894 and McCredie stood as the Free Trade candidate for Granville at the 1894 election but an independent free trade candidate, John Nobbs, split the Free Trade vote and both were defeated.<ref>{{cite NSW election |year=1894 |district=Granville |accessdate=26 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article252758930 |title=Granville |newspaper=The Cumberland Mercury |date=28 July 1894 |access-date=26 August 2020 |page=4 |via=Trove}}</ref>
McCredie was the foreman of the jury in the trial of George Dean in which Dean was convicted of attempting to murder his wife.<ref name="SMH obit"/> Dean was pardoned after a Royal Commission, but subsequently confessed and was convicted of perjury.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-04-04|title=Attempted Murder and Conspiracy: The Lemon Syrup Case|url=https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/magazine/galleries/the-lemon-syrup-case|access-date=2020-08-26|website=NSW State Archives & Records|language=en-AU|archive-date=14 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814223421/https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/magazine/galleries/the-lemon-syrup-case|url-status=dead}}</ref>
When bubonic plague struck Sydney in 1900, George McCredie was appointed by the Government to take charge of all quarantine activities in the Sydney area, beginning work on 23 March 1900. At the time of his appointment, McCredie was an architect and consulting engineer with offices in the Mutual Life of New York Building in Martin Place. McCredie's appointment was much criticised in Parliament, though it was agreed later that his work was successful.<ref>{{cite book |last=Echenberg |first=Myron |title=Plague Ports: The Global Urban Impact of Bubonic Plague, 1894-1901 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X4kUCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA253 |publisher=New York University Press |location=New York |year=2010 |pages=244–269 |isbn=9780814722336}}</ref> In 1900 McCredie was presented with a 'Victor of the Plague' commemorative shield.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Commemorative shield 'Victor of the Plague'|url=https://collection.maas.museum/object/166602|access-date=2020-08-26|website=collection.maas.museum|language=en}}</ref>
McCredie died at Guildford on 4 February 1903 (aged 44), leaving a widow and eight children.<ref name="George McCredie NSW parl">{{Cite NSW Parliament |name=Mr George McCredie (1859-1903) |former=Yes |access-date=1 May 2019 |id=1048}}</ref><ref name="SMH obit">{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14505011 |title=Death of Mr George McCredie |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=6 February 1903 |access-date=26 August 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-civ}} {{s-bef|before= Thomas Muston}} {{s-ttl|title= Mayor of Prospect and Sherwood|years= 1892–1895}} {{s-aft|after= William Noller}} {{s-par|au-nsw-la}} {{s-bef|before=John Nobbs}} {{s-ttl|title=Member for Central Cumberland|years=1893–1894|alongside=Dale, Farnell, Garrard}} {{s-non|reason=Abolished}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCredie, George}} Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Category:Free Trade Party politicians Category:1859 births Category:1903 deaths Category:19th-century Australian politicians Category:Mayors of places in New South Wales Category:Colony of New South Wales politicians