John Storey (politician)

John Storey (May 15 1869–October 5 1921) was Premier of New South Wales from April 12 1920 until his sudden death in Sydney. His leadership enabled the New South Wales Labor Party to recover after the split over conscription and to allow it to continue to be a left-wing pragmatist rather than a socialist party.

Early life

Storey was born at or near Huskisson, New South Wales, Australia to English immigrant parents, William John, a shipbuilder, and Elizabeth Graham. His family moved to Balmain when he was six,cite web
first=Bede
last=Nairn
title =Storey, John (1869 - 1921)
publisher =Australian National University
work=Australian Dictionary of Biography
url =http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120125b.htm
accessdate = 2007-02-17] but his father died soon afterwards. He was educated at Darling Road Superior Public School and at night school. At fourteen he was apprenticed to boilermaking with Perdriau and West and then worked at Mort's Dock.cite web
title =Mr John Storey (1869 - 1921)
work =Members of Parliament
publisher =Parliament of New South Wales
url =http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/e33ce4ed65a41130ca2569f9000b7bc9/92bc4fc6fefceb8cca256cb700155bee!OpenDocument
accessdate = 2007-02-17 ] He helped found the Balmain Cricket Club in 1897 and was a leading all-rounder for its top grade team. He was a member of the United Society of Boilermakers and Iron Ship Builders of New South Wales.

Elected to Parliament

Storey joined the Labor Electoral League, the precursor of the Labor Party, on its foundation in 1891 and was elected to represent Balmain North in the Legislative Assembly in 1901. Although he was an effective parliamentarian, he was beaten for election to the recreated seat of Balmain by Walter Anderson in 1904, but defeated Anderson in 1907. The McGowen Labor Government came to power in 1910, but Storey did not nominate for election to Cabinet.

In 1916 the non-parliamentary party attempted to discipline Premier William Holman, and elected a Cabinet headed by Story 27 April. The party reversed this decision on 4 May and Story handed back power to Holman, although legally there had never been any transfer of power. However, the split in the party widened further with the dispute over conscription and, in November, Holman, along with Prime Minister Billy Hughes, were expelled from the party. The remnants of the Labor Party were now in opposition to Holman's Nationalist Government, but Story refused to become party leader and Ernest Durack became leader. Durack resigned in February 1917 and Storey had no choice but accept the leadership. His good public speaking and amiability helped to reduce the scale of Labor's defeat in the 1917 election. He worked hard in 1918 and 1919 to prevent socialists taking over the party and his policy speech for the 1920 election promised child endowment and suburban rail electrification rather than socialism.

Premier

Labor won the 1920 election with a majority of one and Story became Premier. His thin majority, combined with a substantial minority in Legislative Council (made up of life appointees) and attacks of nephritis made his job hard. His private secretary at this time was V. Gordon Childe, later internationally famous in the field of archaeology, who wrote the book How Labor Governs, based on his experience as Storey's secretary. In June 1920, he appointed Judge Norman Ewing to carry out a royal commission in to the imprisonment of twelve IWW members in 1916 for treason, arson, sedition and forgery. On Ewing's recommendation, ten were released in August. In early 1921, he prorogued Parliament to prevent his Government being overthrown during a six months to visit financiers and a Harley Street doctor in London. Despite the warnings of his doctor, he undertook heavy work in London and on his return to Sydney in July. He was admitted to hospital and died at Clermont Private Hospital, Darlinghurst and was survived by his wife, three sons and two of his three daughters.

Notes

External links

* [http://purl.library.usyd.edu.au/setis/id/p00052 E-Text of 'How Labor Governs']
*Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=John|Last=Storey|Link=http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogSt-Sy.html#storey1

Persondata
NAME=Storey, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=New South Wales politician and Premier
DATE OF BIRTH= May 15 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH= Huskisson, New South Wales
DATE OF DEATH= October 5 1921
PLACE OF DEATH= Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia