Hugh Craine Kelly


Hugh Craine Kelly was a farmer and politician in colonial South Australia.
Hugh was born the fifth son of William Kelly of Cudlee Creek and Gumeracha, South Australia. He was educated at Prince Alfred College and farmed at Alma, South Australia.
He was of Chairman of the Alma District Council and President of the Alma Farmers' Union. He was a worker for the temperance movement and lay preacher at his Wesleyan Methodist church.
He was elected to the seat of Wooroora in the South Australian House of Assembly and served from April 1890 until the following January, when he died as a result of being thrown from a buggy near Port Wakefield. James Cowan and J. G. Ramsay met similar deaths. One critic praised him for his clear and melodious voice, his matter-of-fact clarity of expression, steadfastness of purpose and imperviousness to flattery.
His brother Robert won the ensuing by-election.

Family

William Kelly married Catherine Cowley and had one son. He married again, to Jane Christiana Caley on 27 January 1838, and emigrated to South Australia on the Lloyds, arriving in December 1838. Among their children were:
Hugh Craine Kelly
Robert Kelly was married to Mary Ann Kelly farmed at "Cornhill", Yankalilla, retired to Knightsbridge. and died within four days of each other.
Another early settler, though probably unrelated, can be mentioned here to avoid confusion: Robert Symons Kelly married Elizabeth, arrived in the Platina in February 1839 and settled at Modbury, which he named for his home town.