John Whitehead Percival (27 September 1870 – 1 February 1942) was an English-born Australian politician. He was born in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

to brass moulder William Percival and Hannah Whitehead. He worked as a newspaper manager, arriving in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

around 1894. For 17 years he was the manager of the Bathurst ''

National Advocate ''The National Advocate'' was a daily newspaper published in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, between 1889 and 1963. Newspaper history The newspaper was established on 28 September 1889, co-founded by Australian businessman James Ruthe ...

'' from 16 May 1904, until 21 December 1923, when he was forced to resign after being caught misusing company money. On 18 October 1905 he married Emily Amelia Cartrell, with whom he had four children. He was appointed to the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

in 1921 as a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member. Labor had long had a policy of abolishing the Legislative Council. On 23 February 1926

Albert Willis Albert Shelby Willis (January 22, 1843 – January 6, 1897) was a United States Representative from Kentucky and a Minister to Hawaii. Life Born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, Willis attended the common schools and graduated from the Louisvill ...

, the Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council sought leave to resume debate on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) that would abolish the Legislative Council however Percival and another Labor member Frank Bryant voted against the bill and it was defeated by 47 votes to 41. Percival and Bryant immediately resigned from the Labor party however on 5 March 1926 the party executive refused to accept their resignations and expelled them instead. He sat as an independent until 1931 when he supported the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

until the reconstitution of the Council in 1934, with members being elected, not directly by the people, but by a joint sitting of the

New South Wales Parliament The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Each ...

. He was a United Australia Party candidate at the first indirect election for the Legislative Council but was defeated. Percival died at Randwick on .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minahan, James 1870 births 1942 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales United Australia Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council