Thomas John Ley

Thomas John Ley

Thomas John Ley (born October 28, 1880 in Bath , † July 29, 1947 ) was an Australian lawyer, politician and businessman. Ley was a MP in the New South Wales State House of Commons, New South Wales Secretary of Justice and MP in the Australian House of Representatives .

Youth and education

Thomas Ley was born to the butler Henry Ley and his wife Elizabeth, nee Bryant. His father died in 1882. His mother emigrated to Sydney , Australia with him, his three siblings and his grandmother . He had to earn money early on, initially as a delivery boy and newspaper boy. His education at Crown Street Public School ended when he was ten. He was taken out of school to help out with the grocery store his mother had bought. He later worked on a dairy farm near Windsor in New South Wales . While he was in Windsor, Ley discovered an interest in law for himself and trained himself.

Professional career

At fourteen he got a job as a stenographer in a law firm. From 1896 he then attended the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts . On June 16, 1898, Thomas Ley married Emily Lewise "Louisa" Stone Vernon, the daughter of a respected and wealthy doctor. In 1901 he moved to Norton, Smith & Co. in 1914, he was admitted as a solictor . While he was sitting in the Australian House of Representatives, he and two partners founded the law firm Ley, Andrews & Co. in 1925. The law firm was involved in companies, including SOS Prickly Pear Poisons Ltd. and Australasian Oil Fields Ltd. In 1927 there were investigations into serious irregularities at these two companies. Most allegations were made against his partners Harry Andrews and Hyman Goldstein. While Ley was a delegate of Australia to the League of Nations in Geneva , Goldstein was found dead in September 1928 at the foot of the cliffs of Coogee .

After the end of his political career, Ley left Australia for the United Kingdom , where he settled. In Britain, he was involved in various dubious transactions, inter alia in a sweepstakes over one million £ , which were not paid. In addition, there were dubious real estate transactions and activities on the black market during the Second World War .

politics

Local politics

In 1907 the Ley couple moved to the suburb of Hurstville , where Ley began to be politically active and was elected to the local council after five months. He was involved in the local landowners' association and in Protestant organizations such as the Presbyterian Debating Society . Ley stood politically for the abstinence movement and the introduction of prohibition . Because of his commitment to abstinence from alcohol, he earned the nickname " Lemonade Ley ".

Politicians in New South Wales

After Ley ran for mayor several times without success, he turned to the politics of the state of New South Wales from 1911. As a candidate for the Nationalist Party of Australia and a representative of the concept of conscription , Ley was elected to the New South Wales State Parliament for the Hurstville constituency in March 1917. He advocated the introduction of proportional representation within his party . He was in contrast to the party leader William Arthur Holman . Ley was one of the first nationalist politicians to join the Progressive Party (whose members later became the Country Party ). In 1920 he was re-elected to Parliament for the Progressives in the St. George district. In December 1921 he was in the seven-hour cabinet of George Fuller briefly Minister of Public Employment, Labor and Industry. After the takeover of government failed after just seven hours, numerous progressives returned to the National. In 1922 Ley was re-elected to the Nationalist Party.

In the new government of Fuller Ley was then from 1922 to 1925 Minister of Justice of New South Wales. During his time as minister he lost support in the abstinence movement because he delayed a popular vote to introduce prohibition. The refusal to pardon a teacher sentenced to death for the murder of his own daughters and to give him a prison term led to strong opposition in the population. He was re-elected in 1925, but now belonged to the opposition. In September 1925, he resigned to run at the federal level.

Federal politician

The elections to the House of Representatives was Thomas Leys main challenger in the constituency Barton of Labor -Kandidat Frederick McDonald. This accused Ley during the election campaign that he had tried to bribe him to step down from the candidacy. Ley denied the allegations and was elected. McDonald tried to have the election annulled, but the proceedings ended with no result after McDonald disappeared under unexplained circumstances on April 15, 1926. Ley's hope of a ministerial post in the Australian government was not fulfilled. Circumstances became known during the legislature that cast doubt on Ley's business activities.

Web links

• Australian Dictionary of Biography (English)