| John Kessell | |
| Constituency Am1: | Port Curtis |
| Assembly1: | Queensland Legislative |
| Term Start1: | 26 October 1912 |
| Term End1: | 22 May 1915 |
| Predecessor1: | Edward Breslin |
| Successor1: | George Carter |
| Birth Date: | 1870 |
| Birth Place: | Kadina, South Australia, Australia |
| Death Date: | 15 November 1933 (aged 62-63) |
| Death Place: | Lewisham, New South Wales, Australia |
| Restingplace: | Field of Mars Cemetery |
| Birthname: | John Henry Kessell |
| Nationality: | Australian |
| Party: | Ministerialist |
| Spouse: | Sarah Rosetta Watt (m.1905) |
| Occupation: | Journalist |
John Henry Kessell (1870 - 15 November 1933) was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.[1]
Kessell was born at Kadina, South Australia, the son of John Kessell and his wife Elizabeth (née Williams). He was educated in Bathurst and was a proprietor of the Gladstone Observer newspaper and the chairman director of the Mt. Morgan Co.[1]
He married Sarah Rosetta Watt on 2 August 1905 in Brisbane and together had one daughter. Kessell died at the Lewisham Private Hospital,[2] New South Wales, and his funeral proceeded from the Ashfield Methodist Church to the Field of Mars Cemetery.[3]
Kessell, representing the Ministerialists, contested the seat of Port Curtis at the 1912 state election but lost by two votes to Edward Breslin.[4] The election of Breslin was later declared null and void by Justice Charles Chubb, the elections judge of the Queensland Supreme Court[5] and Kessell won the resulting by-election in October 1912.[4] At the 1915 state election he lost the seat to George Carter.[6]
He was president of the Australian Provincial Press Association and president of the Queensland Country Press Association.[1]