Background
He was born in Doon in County Tipperary to farmers Patrick and Alice Ryan.
He was born in Doon in County Tipperary to farmers Patrick and Alice Ryan.
He was an assisted road superintendent around Orange and Lithgow before becoming a journalist with the Lithgow Mercury. He was managing editor of the Mercury from 1889 to 1926. He was a minister without portfolio from 1927 to 1930, Vice-President of the Executive Council for a month in May–June 1932, and minister without portfolio again from 1932 to 1938.
Ryan died in Nowra in 1940.
From 1917 to 1940 he was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, first for the Nationalist Party and then for the United Australia Party.