Edwin Thomas John Kerby (12 April 1888 – 5 July 1971) was an Australian politician.
Family The son of James Macklam Kerby (1861—1944),Deaths: Kerby, The Argus, (Thursday, 23 March 1944), p. 2. and Margaret Ann Kerby (1856—1941), née Brennan,Marriages: Kerby—Brennan, The Ballarat Courier, (Wednesday, 8 April 1885), p. 2.Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Deaths Registration no.16660/1941. Edwin Thomas John Kerby was born at Ballarat, Victoria on 12 April 1888.Births: Kerby, The Ballarat Courier, (Tuesday, 24 April 1888), p. 2.
He married Rosina May Prisk (1888—1980), later Mrs. Oliver Gladstone Longstaff, at Ballarat on 3 May 1911.Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Births Registration no.304/1888.Approaching Marriages, The Ballarat Star, (Saturday, 29 April 1911), p.2.Weddings, The Ballarat Star, (Saturday, 27 May 1911), p.2.Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Marriages Registration no.9107/1945 ("Longstaff").Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Deaths Registration no.11540/1980 ("Rosina May Longstaff"). He married Elizabeth Beatrice Simons Beauchamp (1898—1986) in 1945.Birth: Beauchamp, The Zeehan and Dundas Herald, (Tuesday, 22 November 1898), p. 2.Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Marriages Registration no.792/1945.Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Deaths Registration no.3341/1986.
Early life He attended Grenville College, Ballarat, before becoming a mining engineer and electrical contractor.
Military service He served in World War I from 1914 to 1919. During his service he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.
Politician In 1919, he was selected as the Nationalist candidate for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Ballaarat, and defeated sitting Labor MP Charles McGrath by one vote, the closest result ever recorded for the House of Representatives. McGrath successfully challenged Kerby's election in the courts, and a by-election was held in 1920 and won by McGrath. Kerby became a businessman, focusing mainly on aviation, and became prominent among ex-servicemen's causes; he held the leadership of the RSL. He died in 1971.
Amateur radio Throughout his adult life Kerby maintained an interest in amateur radio and held the callsigns VK7EK while resident at Ringarooma, Tasmania (1932 to 1939) and VK3KK while living in Auburn, Melbourne, Victoria (1946 to 1969).Potted biography
Death He died at the Macleod Repatriation Sanatorium, in Macleod, Victoria, on 5 July 1971.Deaths: "Major Edwin Thomas John Kerby, R.L.; E.D.; M.B.E.", The Age, (Wednesday, 7 July 1971), p. 19.
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References World War One: Service Record: Major Edwin Thomas John Kerby, National Archives of Australia. World War Two: Service Record: Edwin Thomas John Kerby (V354742), National Archives of Australia. "Sporting Politician Seeks Championship: Major Kerby to Oppose Victoria's Best Scullers", The (Melbourne) Herald, (Friday, 5 March 1920), p. 4. "Among the Veterans: Former Derby Resident: Major E.T.J. Kerby, The North-Eastern Advertiser, (Friday, 13 March 1942), p. 2. Wedding Bells: Kerby—Proctor-Beauchamp, The (Burnie) Advocate, (Friday, 23 October 1942), p. 6. Honours, Decorations and Awards: Members of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire: "Edwin Thomas John Kerby, Esquire", Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No.50, (Thursday, 24 June 1965), p. 2396.