{{Short description|Australian politician (1875–1951)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Harold Millington | image = | order = Deputy Premier of Western Australia | premier = John Willcock | term_start = 1939 | term_end = December 1943 | predecessor = Michael Troy | successor = Frank Wise | office1 = Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly | constituency1 = Mount Hawthorn | term_start1 = 1930 | term_end1 = 1947 | predecessor1 = New seat | successor1 = Les Nimmo | office2 = Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly | constituency2 = Leederville | term_start2 = 1924 | term_end2 = 1930 | predecessor2 = Lionel Carter | successor2 = Alexander Panton | office3 = Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council | constituency3 = North-East Province | term_start3 = 1914 | term_end3 = 1920 | birth_date = {{birth date|1875|4|24|df=y}} | birth_place = Gawler, South Australia, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|1951|10|25|1875|4|24|df=y}} | death_place = Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia | party = Labor | occupation = Miner, union official | resting_place = Karrakatta Cemetery | spouse = {{plainlist| * Ethel Lillian Clarke (m. 1902; died 1942) * Mabel Grace Loane, {{abbr|née|born as}} Baker (m. 1944)}} | children = 3 sons }}
'''Harold Millington''' (24 April 1875 – 25 October 1951) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the Parliament of Western Australia for over 25 years, serving in the Legislative Council (1914–1920) and Legislative Assembly (1924–1947). A long-serving minister in the governments of Philip Collier and John Willcock, he held a succession of portfolios including agriculture, police, education, public works, and water supplies, and served as Deputy Premier under Willcock from 1939 to 1943.<ref name="parlbio">{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament/Library/MPHistoricalData.nsf/LookupName/542FF2C4D46F74B8482577E50028A70E?opendocument |title=Millington, Harold |publisher=Parliament of Western Australia |access-date=26 March 2016}}</ref>
== Early life and union career == Millington was born in Gawler, South Australia, the son of John Francis Millington, a farmer originally from Launceston, Tasmania, and his wife Rebecca (née Goodyear).<ref name="peopleaus">{{cite web |url=https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/millington-harold-34692/text43650 |title=Millington, Harold (1875–1951) |work=People Australia |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |access-date=9 February 2026}}</ref> He moved to Western Australia in 1894 during the gold rush, initially working on the eastern goldfields during the rush to the Wealth of Nations mine near Coolgardie.<ref name="peopleaus"/> He worked at Menzies and Yuella in 1895, and by 1900 was an underground miner on the Golden Mile at Kalgoorlie.<ref name="peopleaus"/>
Millington became active in the labour movement on the goldfields. He joined the Filterpress and Cyanide Workers' Union and in 1912 became the first president of the Amalgamated Surface Workers' Union.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |title=Mr. H. Milligan Dies; Long Political Career |work=The West Australian |date=26 October 1951 |page=2}}</ref><ref name="peopleaus"/> He also served as secretary and treasurer of the Goldfields Carters and Drivers Industrial Union of Workers (1913) and vice-president of the Eastern Goldfields Labour Federation (1912).<ref name="peopleaus"/> In 1914, he became full-time secretary of the Goldfields Council of the Australian Labour Federation.<ref name="peopleaus"/> He married Ethel Lillian Clarke at Kalgoorlie on 15 May 1902; they had three sons.<ref name="peopleaus"/>
== Parliamentary career ==
=== Legislative Council (1914–1920) === Millington was elected to the Legislative Council for North-East Province in a 1914 by-election.<ref name="parlbio"/> He served six years in the upper house before losing his seat in 1920.<ref name="parlbio"/> He was a delegate to the ALP's Fourth General Council in 1919, and after his defeat served as assistant secretary and then secretary of the state executive of the Labor Party from 1921 to 1924.<ref name="peopleaus"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148423295 |title=Mr. Millington Resigns from Ministry |newspaper=Westralian Worker |issue=1830 |location=Western Australia |date=3 December 1943 |access-date=26 March 2016 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
=== Legislative Assembly and ministry (1924–1947) === Millington contested and won the inner metropolitan electorate of Leederville at the 1924 election.<ref name="parlbio"/> When Philip Collier formed his first government, Millington was initially appointed minister without portfolio in April 1927, then promoted to Minister for Agriculture in December 1927, also taking on the police portfolio in 1928.<ref name="peopleaus"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78743903 |title=W.A.'S NEW GOVERNMENT |newspaper=The Daily News |volume=XLVI |issue=16,224 |location=Western Australia |date=28 April 1927 |access-date=26 March 2016 |page=1 (HOME (FINAL) EDITION) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He held both portfolios until the Collier government's defeat in April 1930.
His Leederville electorate was divided in a redistribution in 1930, and Millington contested and won the new seat of Mount Hawthorn.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32488856 |title=Mt. Hawthorn. Mr. H. Millington's Candidature. |work=The West Australian |date=15 March 1933 |access-date=23 November 2014}}</ref> After Labor's landslide victory at the 1933 election, Millington returned to cabinet under the Second Collier Ministry, serving as Minister for Agriculture, Police, and the North-West from 1933 to 1935.<ref name="peopleaus"/> In a ministerial reshuffle in 1935, he moved to the portfolios of police, education, and water supplies.<ref name="peopleaus"/> Following a further reshuffle in May 1936 occasioned by the departure of James Kenneally from cabinet, Millington took on public works and water supplies, portfolios he would retain for seven years.<ref name="peopleaus"/>
When Collier retired as premier on health grounds in August 1936, John Willcock succeeded him and retained Millington in the Willcock Ministry.<ref name="parlbio"/> After the 1939 election, Millington was elected deputy Labor leader and Deputy Premier, also adding the employment portfolio to his responsibilities.<ref name="parlbio"/><ref name="peopleaus"/> In December 1943, citing ill health, he resigned from the ministry and the deputy leadership.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7840000 |title=Millington's Successor |work=The Daily News |date=1 December 1943 |access-date=23 November 2014}}</ref> He served out his final term on the backbench before retiring at the 1947 election.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mr Millington To Retire |work=Westralian Worker |date=15 February 1946}}</ref>
== Later life == After leaving parliament, Millington served as chairman of stewards of the Western Australian Trotting Association from 1947 to 1949.<ref name="peopleaus"/> He was also a director of the People's Printing and Publishing Company, the publisher of the ''Westralian Worker''.<ref name="peopleaus"/>
His first wife Ethel died in 1942. On 12 January 1944, he married Mabel Grace Loane (née Baker).<ref name="peopleaus"/>
Millington died at St John of God Subiaco Hospital on 25 October 1951, four days after being admitted for heart problems. He was survived by his widow, his three sons, and a stepdaughter.<ref name="obit"/> He was buried at Karrakatta Cemetery.<ref name="parlbio"/>
== References == {{reflist}}
== See also == * Second Collier Ministry * Willcock Ministry
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Michael Troy}} {{s-ttl|title=Deputy Premier of Western Australia|years=1939–1943}} {{s-aft|after=Frank Wise}} {{s-par|au-wa-la}} {{succession box |title=Member for Leederville |before=Lionel Carter |years=1924–1930 |after=Alexander Panton}} {{succession box |title=Member for Mount Hawthorn |before=New seat |years=1930–1947 |after=Les Nimmo}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Millington, Harold}} Category:1875 births Category:1951 deaths Category:People from Gawler, South Australia Category:Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Category:Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Category:Australian miners Category:Australian trade unionists Category:Burials at Karrakatta Cemetery Category:Ministers for education (Western Australia)