Background
Kelly was born in Sydney and educated at All Saints College, Bathurst, and Eton College from 1893 to 1896.
Kelly was born in Sydney and educated at All Saints College, Bathurst, and Eton College from 1893 to 1896.
Eton College.
In 1903 Kelly was elected to seat of Wentworth in the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Free Trade Party. From June 1913 to September 1914 he was Minister without portfolio and acting minister for home affairs in Joseph Cook"s Commonwealth Liberal Party Ministry. He reversed King O"Malley"s decision to build Walter Burley Griffin"s plan for Canberra using the departmental plan and instead appointed Griffin as Federal capital director of design and construction.
He also negotiated a plan for standardisation of Australia"s rail gauge, but this was scrapped when the Fisher government came to power in September 1914.
He was in opposition until the formation of the Nationalist Government in February 1917. He did not get a ministry in the Hughes government and retired at the 1919 election.
He died at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in the Sydney suburb of Camperdown, aged eighty-two.
He was the last surviving member of Joseph Cook"s Cabinet, as well as the last surviving Member of Parliament who served during Alfred Deakin"s three tenures as Prime Minister, as well as during the Prime Ministerships of Chris Watson, George Reid and Andrew Fisher"s first tenure.