George Cole (South Australian politician)


George William Cole was a politician in the colony of South Australia.

History

Cole was born in Lindfield, Sussex, the eldest son of George Cole and Sarah Cole, née Cooper. George married a second time, to Mrs Jane Mitchell in 1838. George, Jane, and George's seven children arrived in South Australia on 9 July 1839 aboard Lysander
He was employed as City Valuator from around 1865.
He was, like his father, a confirmed teetotaler, active in the Bible Christian Missionary Society and the Total Abstinence Society and important in the founding of Rechabites in South Australia. He was a lay preacher for the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Adelaide.
He was a member of Parliament for the seats of Burra and Clare 1860–1862, with fellow teetotaler William Dale as his associate, and The Burra 1862–1866, when he resigned. He fought for abolition of liquor and closing of railways on Sundays. In the 1850s he lived next door to the Temperance Hall in Tynte Street, North Adelaide; later at Lymington Cottage, Melbourne Street, North Adelaide.

Family

Cole arrived in South Australia with his father, stepmother and six siblings:
He married Ann Elizabeth Mitchell on 1 December 1845.