John Lindsay (Western Australian politician)

John Lindsay (6 January 1876 – 12 December 1957) was an Australian politician who served as a Country Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1924 to 1933. He was a minister in the government of Sir James Mitchell.

John Lindsay
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia
In office 22 March 1924 – 12 April 1930
Preceded by	Alfred Piesse
Succeeded by	Lindsay Thorn
Constituency	Toodyay
In office 12 April 1930 – 8 April 1933
Preceded by	None (new seat)
Succeeded by	Frederick Warner
Constituency	Mount Marshall
Personal details
Born	(1876-01-06)6 January 1876 Glasgow, Scotland
Died	12 December 1957(1957-12-12) (aged 81) Claremont, Western Australia, Australia
Political party	Country

Early life

Lindsay was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to Sarah (née Gillies) and William Lindsay. He arrived in Western Australia as a young man, having earlier spent two years in Queensland.[1] During the Boer War, Lindsay served two tours of duty with a Western Australian regiment.[2] He was refused permission to re-enlist after his first tour of duty, but supposedly stowed away on a troop ship and talked his way into continuing to serve.[3] After the war's end, Lindsay did not return to Australia until 1905, when he took up land at Wyalkatchem as one of the region's first settlers. He was elected to the Dowerin Road Board in 1912, and then switched to the Wyalkatchem Road Board upon its creation in 1920.[1]

Politics and later life

Lindsay entered parliament at the 1924 state election, winning the seat of Toodyay from the sitting Country member, Alfred Piesse. He and Piesse belonged to separate factions of the party, which had split in 1923 due to disputes over the coalition with the Nationalist Party. Lindsay was re-elected to Toodyay with an increased majority at the 1927 election. He switched to the new seat of Mount Marshall at the 1930 election,[4] which saw a victory for the Nationalist–Country coalition, and was subsequently appointed to cabinet as Minister for Public Works and Minister for Labour.[1]

At the 1933 state election, both Lindsay and the Mitchell government were defeated. He was one of four government ministers to lose their seats (along with Mitchell, John Scaddan, and Hubert Parker), although his defeat was to an "Independent Country" candidate, Frederick Warner. Lindsay stood for East Province at the 1936 Legislative Council election, but was defeated by Garnet Wood.[1] He made one final run for parliament at the 1943 state election, but lost to Hugh Leslie.[4] Lindsay retired to Perth, dying there in 1957, aged 81. He had married Annie Sherwood in 1911, with whom he had four children.[1]

See also

• Second Mitchell Ministry

References

1. John Lindsay, Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
2. Boer War Nominal Roll: John Lindsay, Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
3. "PEEPS AT PEOPLE", The Sunday Times, 23 September 1928.
4. Black, David; Prescott, Valerie (1997). Election statistics : Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890-1996. Perth, [W.A.]: Western Australian Parliamentary History Project and Western Australian Electoral Commission. ISBN 0730984095.

Parliament of Western Australia
Preceded by Alfred Piesse	Member for Toodyay 1927–1930	Succeeded by Lindsay Thorn
New seat	Member for Mount Marshall 1930–1933	Succeeded by Frederick Warner
Political offices
Preceded by Alick McCallum	Minister for Public Works 1930–1933	Succeeded by Alick McCallum
New creation	Minister for Labour 1930–1933	Succeeded by Alick McCallum