Edward Kavanagh

Edward Kavanagh (April 27, 1795 – January 22, 1844) was a United States Representative and the 17th Governor of Maine. Born in Newcastle, Maine, he attended Montreal Seminary (in Quebec, Canada) and Georgetown College, (Georgetown, D.C.) He graduated from St. Mary's College (Baltimore) in 1813. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Damariscotta, Maine. He was a member of the Maine House of Representatives from 1826 to 1828, and was secretary of the State senate in 1830.

Kavanagh's public career began with a plea to the framers of the Maine Constitution to include an article for official religious toleration. His first elected role was on the school committee, followed by roles as Selectman, State Representative, and State Senator. In 1829 the legislature elected him as Secretary of State.

Kavanagh was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-second and Twenty-third Congresses, serving from March 4, 1831 to March 3, 1835. He was nationally noticed as the first Catholic elected from New England. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1834 to the Twenty-fourth Congress, and was appointed Chargé d'Affaires to Portugal on March 3, 1835, and served until his resignation in June 1841. He was one of the four Maine commissioners on the northeastern boundary in 1842 in the negotiations that led to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, and was a member of the Maine Senate in 1842 and 1843 and served as the President of the Maine Senate.

Edward Kavanagh (Australian politician)

Edward John Kavanagh (30 October 1871 – 10 October 1956) was an Australian politician.

He was born in Sydney to publican William Kavanagh and Ellen Carty. He attended Marist Brothers' College before going to sea on a coastal trading vessel. He later worked as a tailor, and became involved in the Pressers' Union and through that with the Trades and Labor Council (TLC). On 31 December 1894 he married Agnes Jane Cousins, with whom he had six children. He was president of the TLC from 1905 to 1906 and in 1912 was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council as a Labor member. He was active in the anti-conscription campaign in 1916 and was arrested during the 1917 general strike. From 1920 to 1922 he was Vice-President of the Executive Council; he was also Minister for Labor from December 1921 to April 1922. From 1926 to 1931 he was deputy industrial commissioner. He left the Legislative Council in 1934 when it became indirectly elected, and was an industrial advocate from 1931 to 1937. From 1937 to 1941 he was Apprenticeship and Conciliation Commissioner, and from 1941 to 1945 he was director of labour in the Commonwealth Ministry of Munitions. Kavanagh died at Strathfield in 1956.