1. John Albert Beasley was an Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1928 to 1946.
22 Facts About Jack Beasley
1. 2.
Jack Beasley served in the Australian War Cabinet from 1941 to 1946, and was a government minister in the Curtin and Chifley governments.
3.
Jack Beasley was a member of the Australian Labor Party, although on two occasions he left the party to join the breakaway Lang Labor groups, leading the faction in federal parliament.
4.
Jack Beasley concluded his career as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1946 until his death in 1949.
5.
Jack Beasley was born on 9 November 1895 in Werribee, Victoria, the son of Catherine and John Jack Beasley.
6.
Jack Beasley's mother was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, while his Australian-born father was a blacksmith and farmer.
7.
Jack Beasley was educated at St Andrew's Catholic Primary School, but left at a young age to work on his father's farm.
8.
In 1918, Jack Beasley moved to Sydney and found work at the Cockatoo Island Dockyard.
9.
Jack Beasley was employed by the Sydney Municipal Council in 1920, becoming an electrical installation inspector and then supervisor of appliance sales in the electricity department in 1926.
10.
Jack Beasley became involved in the labour movement as a shop steward for the Electrical Trades Union of Australia.
11.
Jack Beasley served as the union's president from 1924 to 1930, and was one of its delegates to the Labor Council of New South Wales, serving as president of the council from 1922 to 1928.
12.
Jack Beasley was elected to the state executive of the Australian Labor Party in June 1923.
13.
Jack Beasley represented the ALP at the International Labour Conference in Switzerland in 1926, and returned to Australia "appalled at the excesses of Italian fascism and disconcerted by the realities of Russian communism".
14.
In 1928 Jack Beasley was elected for the safe Labor seat of West Sydney.
15.
Jack Beasley became the leading lieutenant of the radical Premier of New South Wales, Jack Lang, and when Lang decided to break with the federal ALP Beasley resigned from the ALP Caucus and became leader of the Lang Labor party in federal Parliament.
16.
From 1932 to 1936 Jack Beasley led the Lang group in opposition to both the United Australia Party government of Joseph Lyons and Federal Labor.
17.
In 1935 Scullin retired and in early 1936 the new federal leader, John Curtin, brought about a reunification of the NSW and Federal parties, and Jack Beasley joined the Opposition front bench.
18.
Nevertheless, Jack Beasley again supported Lang and became leader of the so-called Non-Communist Labor Party in federal Parliament.
19.
Jack Beasley proved to be a highly competent minister and played a leading role in co-ordinating Australia's wartime economy and supporting the Allied forces in the Pacific Theatre.
20.
Jack Beasley had not forgiven Beasley and did not want him in the Cabinet, so in 1946 Beasley was appointed High Commissioner in London.
21.
Jack Beasley was appointed to the Privy Council in 1946.
22.
Jack Beasley served as High Commissioner until his sudden death in September 1949 on a visit to Sydney at St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst.