Edward Millen

Edward Millen
Millen in the 1910s
Vice-President of the Executive Council
In office
17 February 1917 – 16 November 1917
Preceded byWilliam Spence
Succeeded byLittleton Groom
In office
2 June 1909 – 29 April 1910
Preceded byGregor McGregor
Succeeded byGregor McGregor
Leader of the Government in the Senate
In office
17 February 1917 – 9 February 1923
Preceded byGeorge Pearce
Succeeded byGeorge Pearce
In office
24 June 1913 – 17 September 1914
Preceded byGregor McGregor
Succeeded byGeorge Pearce
In office
2 June 1909 – 29 April 1910
Preceded byGregor McGregor
Succeeded byGregor McGregor
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
In office
17 September 1914 – 14 February 1917
Preceded byGregor McGregor
Succeeded byAlbert Gardiner
In office
29 April 1910 – 24 June 1913
Preceded byGregor McGregor
Succeeded byGregor McGregor
In office
21 November 1907 – 2 June 1909
Preceded byJosiah Symon
Succeeded byGregor McGregor
Minister for Defence
In office
24 June 1913 – 17 September 1914
Preceded byGeorge Pearce
Succeeded byGeorge Pearce
Minister for Repatriation
In office
28 September 1917 – 9 February 1923
Preceded byNew title
Succeeded byTitle abolished
Senator for New South Wales
In office
29 March 1901 – 14 September 1923
Succeeded byWalter Massy-Greene
Personal details
Born(1860-11-07)7 November 1860
Deal, Kent, England
Died14 September 1923(1923-09-14) (aged 62)
Caulfield, Victoria
NationalityEnglish Australian
Political partyFree Trade (1894–1906)
Anti-Socialist (1906–09)
Liberal (1909–17)
Nationalist (1917–23)
SpouseConstance Evelyn Flanagan
OccupationJournalist
Signature

Edward Davis Millen (7 November 1860 – 14 September 1923) was an Australian journalist and politician who served as the first Minister for Repatriation.

Millen emigrated to Australia from England around 1880 and established himself as a journalist, subsequently serving in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1894 to 1898, during which time he fiercely opposed the proposed Federation despite supporting the principle. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1899 until his election to the Australian Senate as a Free Trader from New South Wales at the first federal election in 1901. Millen led the conservative parties in the Senate from 1907 until shortly before his death in 1923.

He served as Vice-President of the Executive Council (1909–10) and Minister for Defence (1913–14) in two short-lived Liberal governments before his appointment as the first Minister for Repatriation in 1917. He organised the new department and co-ordinated Australia's repatriation effort, and was briefly acting Prime Minister in 1919, when he settled a seamen's strike. Millen resigned from the ministry in February 1923 and died later that year, his illness attributed to his heavy workload in the post-war years.