George Smailes

{{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix= |name = |honorific_suffix= |image = |alt = |caption = |constituency_MP = Granville |parliament = New South Wales |majority = |term_start = 17 July 1894 |term_end = 5 July 1898 |predecessor = |successor = |prior_term = |birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1862|1|01}} |birth_place = Durham, England |death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1934|1|09|1862|1|01}} |death_place = Auckland, New Zealand |resting_place= |birth_name= George Wells Smailes |party = Labor Party |other_party= |relations = |spouse = |children = |occupation = Clergyman |signature = }}

'''George Wells Smailes''' (1 January 1862 – 9 January 1934) was an Australian politician in the New South Wales parliament, representing the electoral district of Granville for Labor from 17 July 1894 to 5 July 1898, and was a Methodist minister. Later he was an Anglican vicar in New Zealand, and a chaplain with the New Zealand garrison in Samoa in World War I. He apparently changed his surname from Smailes to Wells-Smailes in New Zealand. He was born in Durham, England. He moved to New South Wales in 1882, and to Sydney in 1891.

He moved to New Zealand in 1902, where he was an Anglican vicar at Te Aroha then Ōpōtiki. He was living at St Heliers, Auckland when he applied to be a chaplain in WWI, recommended by Arthur Myers an Auckland MP and former mayor. As there were no chaplain vacancies in the NZEF, he was sent as a chaplain (Army No. 19/2131) to Samoa He served with the Samoa Relief Force in 1915 for 213 days, from 30 March to 28 October. He was sent home early by Colonel Logan, and a confidential report by the Anglican Bishop of Auckland (who did not know him personally, as he was not a vicar in his diocese) to the Minister of Defence said he was an adventurer and "cad", He died in Auckland in 1934.<ref name="George Smailes NSW Parl">{{Cite NSW Parliament |id=1089 |name=Mr George Wells Smailes |former=Yes |access-date=8 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C58229 |title=George Wells-Smailes |via=Online Cenotaph |publisher=Auckland War Memorial Museum |access-date=8 July 2022}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|au-nsw-la}} {{s-bef| before= First Election}} {{s-ttl|title=Member for Granville|years=1894{{spaced ndash}}1898}} {{s-aft|after=John Nobbs}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sleath, Richard}} Category:1862 births Category:1934 deaths Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Category:British emigrants to colonial Australia Category:Military personnel from Durham, England Category:New Zealand military personnel of World War I Category:Australian Methodist ministers Category:New Zealand military chaplains Category:People from Durham, England Category:World War I chaplains Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Category:20th-century New Zealand Anglican priests Category:20th-century English Methodist ministers Category:British emigrants to New Zealand