Francis Gwynne Tudor (29 January 1866 – 10 January 1922) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1916 until his death. He had previously been a government minister under Andrew Fisher and Billy Hughes.
Tudor was born in Melbourne to Welsh immigrant parents. He left school at a young age to enter the workforce, serving an apprenticeship in the felt hat industry and later studying his trade for periods in England and the United States. He became involved in trade unionism in England, and after returning to Australia served as president of the Felt Hatters' Union. Tudor was elected president of the Victorian Trades Hall Council in 1900. The following year, he was elected to the new federal parliament as a representative of the Labor Party. He was chosen as the parliamentary party's first whip, and held that position until entering cabinet in 1908.
Tudor served as Minister for Trade and Customs from 1908 to 1909, 1910 to 1913, and 1914 to 1916, in the governments of Andrew Fisher and Billy Hughes. He remained loyal to the Labor Party during the split over conscription in 1916, and was elected party leader after Hughes' expulsion. He replaced Joseph Cook as leader of the opposition upon the formation of the Third Hughes ministry in February 1917. Tudor led Labor to the 1917 and 1919 federal elections, on both occasions suffering heavy defeats. His death in office at the age of 55 came after a long period of ill health. He was the first leader of a major Australian political party to die in office, and was accorded a state funeral.
Early life
Tudor was born to John Llewellyn Tudor, a ballastman, and Ellen Charlotte Tudor, née Burt, both of Welsh origin, on 29 January 1866 at Williamstown, Victoria. However, the family soon moved to the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, where Tudor lived most of his life.
Upon leaving Richmond Central State School, and after short spells in a sawmill and a boot factory, Tudor entered the felt hat industry. Tudor apprenticed in Abbotsford and then travelled across Victoria in the hat trade. Tudor went to England, working in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, marrying Alice Smale in Denton, Lancashire in 1894. Smale died the same year, but Tudor continued in the felt hat trade by moving to London and becoming vice-president of the local branch of the Felt Hatters' Union. In 1897 Tudor remarried to Fanny Jane Mead. He had a long association with the Richmond Football Club, and served as club president from 1909 to 1918.
Entry into politics
thumb|left|upright|Tudor early in his political career
A prominent figure in Richmond, Victoria, Tudor turned the Division of Yarra into the safest Labor seat in the country by winning that seat by a large margin in the 1901 federal election. Tudor was a deacon of the Congregational Church and angered some Protestants with his calls for Home Rule for Ireland. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, he was an "efficient administrator, with an eye for detail" who "made friends and earned respect on both sides of the House, and was considered to be the most moderate of the Victorian Labor members". On 14 November, the ALP split irrevocably over the issue. Hughes led his supporters out of a caucus meeting and formed a new National Labor Party, allowing him to stay on as prime minister with the aid of the Liberals. On 15 November Tudor was elected unopposed as the new leader of the Labor Party in his place – the party's first Australian-born leader. According to historian Denis Murphy, he was likely elected to the leadership simply because he was the first member of cabinet to resign over the issue. Tudor did not succeed Liberal leader Joseph Cook as Leader of the Opposition until 17 February 1917, when the Third Hughes ministry was sworn in with Hughes as leader of the composite Nationalist Party. Tudor was increasingly seen as an ineffectual leader, and several elements were contemplating replacing him with Ryan. However, Ryan's early death in 1921 prevented him from taking Tudor's place. Tudor's own health became markedly worse during 1921, and he was increasingly unable to carry out his duties.
Death
Tudor died on 10 January 1922 at his home in Richmond, aged 55. His death was attributed to heart disease.
Kim Edward Beazley, who wrote a series of articles on ALP leaders for The Canberra Times in 1966, wrote of Tudor that he "held the Labor movement together in the face of massive forces of disintegration, and he did it by his dignity and utter absence of bitterness, hate or rancour".