William David Beazley (7 October 1854 – 28 June 1912) was an

English Australian English Australians, also known as Anglo-Australians, are Australians whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry (wheth ...

politician, who was a member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

for the

electoral district of Collingwood Collingwood was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria from 1856 to 1958. It centred on the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood, Victoria Collingwood is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victori ...

from 1889 to 1904, and for Abbotsford from 1904 to 1912.

Biography

Beazley was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to William and Elizabeth Beazley, and arrived in Melbourne as an infant in around 1855. He worked as a saddler and harness marker, and in around 1886 was an estate agent. In March 1889, he was elected as one of two members for Collingwood in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. In 1904, the seat became a single-member electorate, and Beazley was elected for the new district of Abbotsford. In addition to his positions in the Parliament of Victoria, Beazley also served as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of Collingwood on two occasions during his parliamentary term, from 1894 to 1895 and from 1899 to 1901. His appointments included Chairman of Committees from 1897 to 1903, and

Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly The Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly is the Speaker (politics), presiding officer of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria. The presiding officer of the upper house of the Parliament of Vict ...

from 1903 to 1904. He also served on two royal commissions into state banking and old age pensions. Beazley was also the Founding President of the Collingwood Football Club, and a key person involved in establishing the Club. Beazley died in office on 28 June 1912. Gordon Webber was elected to replace him at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

on 26 July.

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External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Beazley, William 1854 births 1912 deaths Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Speakers of the Victorian Legislative Assembly British emigrants to the Colony of Victoria Victoria (state) local councillors Mayors of places in Victoria (state) Collingwood Football Club administrators Politicians from Melbourne