J. Mayhew Wainwright


Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He was the United States Assistant Secretary of War from 1921 to 1923.

Early life

Wainwright was born on December 10, 1864 in Manhattan, New York City to John Howard Wainwright and Margaret Livingston Stuyvesant.
U.S. Army General Jonathan M. Wainwright was his cousin.
Wainwright graduated from Columbia College; from Columbia School of Political Science in 1884, and from Columbia Law School in 1886.

Career

In 1886, he was admitted to the bar the same year and practiced in New York City and in Westchester County. He served in the Twelfth Infantry of the New York National Guard, and in the Spanish–American War as captain of the Twelfth Regiment of New York Volunteers.
Wainwright was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907 and 1908.
He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1909 to 1912, sitting in the 132nd, 133rd, 134th and 135th New York State Legislatures.
He was appointed as a member of the first New York State Workmen's Compensation Commission in 1914 and served until 1915. He served as lieutenant colonel, inspector general's department, New York National Guard, on the Mexican border in 1916. During the First World War, Wainwright served as a lieutenant colonel in the Twenty-seventh Division from 1917 to 1919.
He was appointed by President Warren G. Harding to serve as Assistant Secretary of War from March 14, 1921, to March 4, 1923, when he resigned.
Wainwright was elected as a Republican to the 68th, 69th, 70th and 71st United States Congresses, holding office from March 4, 1923, to March 3, 1931. He resumed the practice of law and served as a member of the Westchester County Park Commission from 1930 to 1937.

Personal life

He married Laura Wallace Buchanan on November 23, 1892 in New York. Together, they were the parents of:
He died on June 3, 1945, in Rye, New York. He was buried at the Greenwood Union Cemetery there.