Edward Corser

Edward Bernard Cresset Corser (1852 – 31 July 1928) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Maryborough from 1909 to 1915 and a Commonwealth Liberal Party and then Nationalist Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1915 until his death.

Early life and business career

Corser was born at Upton Cressett, near Birmingham in England, and was educated in Worcester. He migrated to Brisbane, Queensland with his family in 1864 and worked for three years on the Maryborough Sugar Company's plantation. He then worked as a clerk for the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, variously stationed in Maryborough, Brisbane and Gayndah, rising to become acting manager of the Gayndah branch at the age of 21. In 1872, he opened his own wholesale merchant business, Corser and Co. Ltd., which became a "large commercial establishment" at Maryborough selling wine, spirits and general merchandise, and continued to be managed by one of his sons after he entered politics.

Corser was a co-founder and president of the Maryborough Chamber of Commerce, a long-serving member and nine-year chairman of the Burrum Divisional Board, president of the Maryborough Harbour Board, president of the Western Railway Association, one of the original shareholders of the Maryborough Co-operative Dairy Association Ltd., and was a member and president of the Maryborough Grammar School board and local hospitals' committee. As a prominent local figure prior to his entry into politics, he championed the construction of the Nanango railway line, Gayndah railway line and the failed Port of Urangan project. He was a supporter of both Federation and the White Australia Policy and was a strong protectionist.

In 1915, as the candidate of the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party, he transferred to federal Parliament by winning the 1915 Wide Bay by-election caused by the resignation of Labor Prime Minister Andrew Fisher. In 1917, together with the rest of his party, he became a Nationalist. He was re-elected with increasingly large majorities over time, and polled the largest majority of his career at his final election.