Arthur Courthope Gull (1 January 1867 – 30 March 1951) was an Australian politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1905 to 1908, representing the seat of Swan. He ran for parliament on five occasions, but was only elected once.

Arthur Gull
Member of the Legislative Assembly
of Western Australia
In office
27 October 1905 – 11 September 1908
Preceded byMathieson Jacoby
Succeeded byMathieson Jacoby
ConstituencySwan
Personal details
Born(1867-01-01)1 January 1867
Guildford, Western Australia
Died30 March 1951(1951-03-30) (aged 84)
Subiaco, Western Australia

Gull was born in Guildford, Western Australia, to Annie (née Dempster) and Thomas Courthope Gull.[1] His father, a prominent merchant and briefly a member of parliament, died when he was ten years old, while two uncles, Andrew and Charles Edward Dempster, were also MPs.[2] Gull initially attended the High School in Perth, but was later sent to Melbourne to board at Hawthorn Grammar School (run by Martin Howy Irving). On his return to Western Australia, he went to the North-West, spending two years as a jackaroo. Gull later lived for periods in Perth (working as a bank clerk) and on the Eastern Goldfields, eventually settling on a property in Bellevue (near Guildford).[1]

At the 1901 state election, Gull stood as an independent for the seat of Guildford, but lost to Hector Rason (a future premier). He also stood against Rason at the 1902 Guildford by-election (a ministerial by-election), but was again defeated. At the 1905 state election, Gull won the seat of Swan, defeating the sitting Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Mathieson Jacoby. His time in parliament was short-lived, however, as Jacoby won Swan back at the 1908 election.[3] In 1909, Gull moved to a property in Serpentine.[1] He contested the seat of Canning at the 1914 election, but was defeated by Robert Robinson.[3] Gull eventually retired to Perth, dying there in March 1951 (aged 84).[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Arthur Courthope Gull – Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  2. ^ Thomas Courthope Gull – Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  3. ^ a b Black, David; Prescott, Valerie (1997). Election statistics : Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890-1996. Perth, [W.A.]: Western Australian Parliamentary History Project and Western Australian Electoral Commission. ISBN 0730984095.