Sir John Beals Chandler (21 February 1887 – 19 January 1962), frequently referred to as J. B. Chandler, was the

Lord Mayor of Brisbane The Lord Mayor of Brisbane is the chief executive of the City of Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland, and the head of the Brisbane City Council. Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner of the Liberal National Party was sworn in on ...

from 1940 to 1952, and the Member for the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

, representing the electorate of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

from the October 1943 by-election to the 1947 state election, where he chose not to seek re-election. In 2021 John Beals Chandler was inducted into the

Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame In 2009 State Library of Queensland The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Qu ...

Personal life

John Beals Chandler was born in

Bunwell Bunwell is a parish (population 1024) situated in the county of Norfolk, England, approximately 7 miles south-east of Attleborough. The parish includes the hamlets of Bunwell Hill, Bunwell Street, Great Green, Little Green and Low Common. Herita ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, on 21 February 1887. From a poor family, he left school at the age of 8, and emigrated to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

in 1907 to work as a

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

cutter in Mossman,

. In 1912 he married Lydia Isabel Parish in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. They had four sons; two of whom were killed in the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

: Keith John Chandler (age 21) and Roger Stainforth Chandler (age 25). A committed Anglican, Chandler lived out his belief that capitalism should operate in the interests of the many rather than the few.

Businesses

Chandler opened his first hardware store in Elizabeth St, Brisbane in 1913. Chandler increasingly focussed on electrical household appliances and opened a larger store as "J. B. Chandler & Co" in Adelaide St in 1923. This business grew to become the public company Chandlers Pty Ltd, with 25 stores across Queensland and northern NSW, in 1938. Chandlers remained a family-controlled business until 1977. In 1930 he founded the Brisbane radio station 4BC (4 "Beals Chandler") to stimulate demand for his radio sets. He went on to own various other Queensland radio stations, including

4BH 4BH 1116 is the on-air identifier ( ACMA callsign: 4BH) of a radio station in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It broadcasts on a frequency is 1116 kHz in the AM radio band and is simulcasted in DAB+ on channel 9B. It is o ...

in Brisbane.

Politics

Taringa Shire Council

Chandler was a councillor for the Shire of Taringa before the 1925 amalgamation to form Brisbane City Council.

Brisbane City Council

Chandler was elected Lord Mayor in 1940 as the Citizens' Municipal Organisation (CMO) candidate. He was reelected and served out 4 full terms as Lord Mayor, before being defeated in the 1952 election.

Queensland Legislative Assembly

Chandler was elected to the

district of

as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

in 1943. Shortly after his election, he founded the

Queensland People's Party The Liberal Party of Australia (Queensland Division), branded as Liberal Queensland, was the Queensland division of the Liberal Party of Australia until 2008. It was initially formed in October 1943 as the Queensland People's Party (QPP), whic ...

. This party later absorbed the Queensland branch of 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 ...

, and became the Queensland branch of the

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...

in 1948. Chandler retired from the Legislative Assembly in 1947. He remained Lord Mayor of Brisbane until 1952, the year he was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

, and remained chairman and managing director of Chandlers until his death.

Later life

Chandler died at home in

St Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindia ...

, Brisbane in 1962.

Legacy

The Brisbane suburb of

Chandler Chandler or The Chandler may refer to: * Chandler (occupation), originally head of the medieval household office responsible for candles, now a person who makes or sells candles * Ship chandler, a dealer in supplies or equipment for ships Arts ...

was named after him. Chandler was inducted into the

in 2021, for his significant contributions to retail and radio broadcasting networks in Queensland and exceptional community service.

References

Australian Dictionary of Biography

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandler, John Beals 1887 births 1962 deaths Mayors and Lord Mayors of Brisbane Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Queensland People's Party politicians 20th-century Australian politicians People from South Norfolk (district) British emigrants to Australia