page_title: George Reid
section_title: Federal politics
hierarchical_section_title: George Reid / Federal politics
caption_attribution_description: Depicted person&#58; &#32;George Reid English: The Rt. Hon. Sir George Houstoun Reid GCB GCMG KC, Prime Minister of Australia (1904–05).
context_page_description: Sir George Houston Reid GCB, GCMG, PC, KC was an Australian politician who led the Reid Government as the fourth Prime Minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905, having previously been Premier of New South Wales from 1894 to 1899. He led the Free Trade Party from 1891 to 1908.
  Reid was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He and his family immigrated to Australia when he was young. They initially settled in Melbourne, but moved to Sydney when Reid was 13, at which point he left school and began working as a clerk. He later joined the New South Wales civil service, and rose through the ranks to become secretary of the Attorney-General's Department. Reid was also something of a public intellectual, publishing several works in defence of liberalism and free trade. He began studying law in 1876 and was admitted to the bar in 1879. In 1880, he resigned from the civil service to run for parliament, winning election to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.
  From 1883 to 1884, Reid served as Minister for Public Instruction in the government of Alexander Stuart.
caption: Parliament House portrait of Reid by John Longstaff, 1916
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