John Lemmon (15 July 1875 – 28 October 1955) was an Australian politician. He served the longest ever term as a member of the Victorian Parliament, being an MLA for over fifty years. Early years Lemmon was born in Carlton in the Caretakers Cottage of the Trades Hall Council to English wood turner Samuel Lemmon and his Irish wife Matilda Thompson, Samuel and his wife had the Care Takers role for 50 years between them. Lemmon attended Rathdowne St Primary School, the Trades Hall School and then Working Men's College. He was a carpenter's apprentice for five years joining the Timber Workers' Union at the age of fifteen. Doing the same task on sash windows all the time, he realised that the apprenticeship scheme needed to improve. He changed trades to become a tailors cutter. He opened his own business, “Our Boys” Taylors in about 1901 in Footscray. He closed the business when he was elected to parliament. On 25 April 1905 he married Edith Ruddock at Dromana Wesley Church, with whom he had three children. Unions Lemmon joined his first union at the age of 15 years. He was vice-president of the Cutters and Trimmers' Union in 1899 when it reorganised in 1899. He became the secretary and in 1905 was elected president of the Victorian Clothing Operatives' Union. From 1900-07 he was a delegate to the Trades Hall Council and from March 1900 he was secretary of the Trades Hall Organising Committee. Politics Lemmon sought endorsement as a Labor candidate for the Footscray Victorian Legislative Assembly electorate in 1901 and 1902 and then in 1903 preselection as a Senate candidate. He was unsuccessful in these but gained preselection by labour for the Williamstown electorate. In 1904 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the Labor member for Williamstown. In December 1913 he was briefly Minister of Public Instruction and Labour, serving again from July to November 1924 and from May 1927 to November 1928. In December 1929 he resumed his old post, serving until March 1932. He was the secretary of the Parliamentary Labor Party from 1913 to 1938. Lemmon held the seat until 1955; the longest term of any member of the Victorian Parliament and in the British Commonwealth, at the time. Lemmon served as a Royal Commissioner on the enquiry into Murray Waters 1910-11. He also served on the Inquiry into marketing and transportation