Reginald Pole Blundell was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly

South Australian House of Assembly

The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...

 from 1907 to 1918 and the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 from 1919 to 1922.

Blundell was born in the Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

 suburb of Norwood

Norwood, South Australia

Norwood is a suburb of Adelaide, about 4 km east of the Adelaide city centre. The suburb is in the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, the oldest South Australian local government municipality, with a city population over 34,000.-History:...

 and educated at Norwood Public School. He married Alice Clara Gates in 1894. He joined the Tobacco Twisters' Union and was its secretary for eight years. He became secretary of the United Trades and Labor Council of South Australia and was its president in 1905.

Blundell was elected to the House of Assembly seat of Adelaide

Electoral district of Adelaide

Adelaide is an electorate for the South Australian House of Assembly which includes Adelaide's central business district and suburbs in the inner north and inner north east...

 at a by-election in 1907, representing the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

. On the election of Crawford Vaughan

Crawford Vaughan

Crawford Vaughan , was Premier of South Australia between 3 April 1915 and 14 July 1917.Vaughan unsuccessfully campaigned for a seat in the Australian House of Representatives in 1901, and for the Australian Senate in 1903...

's government in 1915, he became minister of industry, mines and marine. In 1917, he left the Labor Party due to the split over conscription

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

 and joined the National Labor Party

National Labor Party

The National Labor Party was the name used by the Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes for himself and his followers after he was expelled from the Australian Labor Party in November 1916 over his pro-conscription stance in relation to World War I...

 and was minister for repatriation, agriculture and industry in Archibald Peake

Archibald Peake

Archibald Henry Peake was an Australian politician and the 25th Premier of South Australia, serving on three separate occasions in the 1910s.-Early life and career:...

's government until his defeat at the 1918 election. At the 1919 election

Australian federal election, 1919

Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 December 1919. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes defeated the opposition Australian...

, he was elected as a Nationalist

Nationalist Party of Australia

The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...

 to the federal seat of Adelaide

Division of Adelaide

The Division of Adelaide is an Australian Electoral Division in South Australia. The division was created in 1903 and is named for the city of Adelaide, South Australia's capital. The seat has always been based in the inner suburbs of Adelaide...

, but was defeated at the 1922 election

Australian federal election, 1922

Federal elections were held in Australia on 16 December 1922. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes lost its majority...

.

Blundell returned to work for W.D. & H.O. Wills

W.D. & H.O. Wills

W.D. & H.O. Wills was a British tobacco importer and cigarette manufacturer formed in Bristol, England. It was one of the founding companies of Imperial Tobacco.-History:...

 as a commercial traveller. He died of pernicious anaemia in the Adelaide suburb of Glenelg

Glenelg, South Australia

Glenelg is a popular beach-side suburb of the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Located on the shore of Holdfast Bay in Gulf St Vincent, it has become a popular tourist destination due to its beach and many attractions, home to several hotels and dozens of restaurants.Established in 1836, it is...

survived by his wife, three daughters and three sons.