Birth Name: John Grey Gorton
Date of Birth: September 9, 1911
Place of Birth: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Date of Death: May 19, 2002
Place of Death: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Ethnicity:
*English, possibly Welsh (father)
*Irish, 1/4 German (mother)
John Gorton was an Australian politician. A member of the Labor Party, he served as Prime Minister of Australia, from 10 January, 1968 to 10 March, 1971. He was Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, from 10 January 1968 to 10 March 1971, and Minister for Defence, from 19 March 1971 to 13 August 1971, among many other duties.
Prime Minister Gorton was the illegitimate son of Alice Sinn and John Rose Gorton. His father was born in Manchester, England, and possibly had some Welsh ancestry, apart from English. His mother was of one quarter German and three quarters Irish ancestry.
Prime Minister Gorton’s paternal grandparents were John Gorton (the son of James Gorton and Hannah Chappell) and Emma Rose (the daughter of William Rose and Sarah Griffiths). Sarah’s surname, “Griffiths”, is Welsh.
Prime Minister Gorton’s maternal grandparents were Henry James Sinn (the son of Heinrich Sinn and Sarah Holihan) and Margaret Sarah Carroll (the daughter of Thomas Carroll and Theresa Musgrove). Heinrich was German. Sarah was born in England; her surname suggests she was of Irish origin. Margaret was born in Limerick, Ireland.
Prime Minister Gorton is the third person of significant non-British Isles ancestry to serve as Prime Minister of Australia. The other Prime Ministers of significant non-British Isles ancestry were/are:
*Chris Watson (who served for the Labour Party from 27 April, 1904 to 18 August, 1904; Watson’s father was of Austrian or German descent)
*Harold Holt (who served for the Liberal Party from 26 January, 1966 to 17 December, 1967; two of Holt’s great-grandfathers were German)
*Malcolm Fraser (who served for the Liberal Party from 11 November, 1975 to 11 March, 1983; Fraser’s maternal grandfather was Jewish)
*Tony Abbott (who served for the Liberal Party from 18 September, 2013 to 15 September, 2015; Abbott’s maternal grandfather was Dutch)
Source: Genealogy of John Gorton – http://www.wikitree.com