70764
MCLEAY, John
| Service Number: | 4748 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 May 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 13th Field Ambulance |
| Born: | Port Clinton, Yorke Peninsula - South Australia, Australia, 23 November 1893 |
| Home Town: | Unley, Unley, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Port Clinton Primary School, Unley High School, Muirden College |
| Occupation: | Travelling Salesman, Retailer, Politician, Speaker of the House of Representatives |
| Died: | Complications arising from Stroke, Ashford, City of West Torrens - South Australia, Australia, 22 June 1982, aged 88 years |
| Cemetery: |
Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia |
| Memorials: | Unley Town Hall WW1 Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 13 May 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4748, 3rd Australian General Hospital - WW1 | |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Jun 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4748, 3rd Australian General Hospital - WW1, 1st Reinforcements ,3rd Australian General Hospital--- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '23' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Wandilla embarkation_ship_number: A62 public_note: '' | |
| 1 Aug 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4748, 3rd Australian General Hospital - WW1, ANZAC / Gallipoli, Served on Lemnos | |
| 24 Apr 1918: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 4748, 13th Field Ambulance, German Spring Offensive 1918 | |
| 24 Apr 1918: | Honoured Military Medal, German Spring Offensive 1918, Military Medal Awarded - 5th Division counter attack at Villers Bretonneux | |
| 1 Jan 1919: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 13th Field Ambulance | |
| 23 May 1919: | Promoted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 13th Field Ambulance, Acting Sergeant | |
| 17 Oct 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Sergeant, 4748, 13th Field Ambulance, Acting Sergeant |
Awarded the Military Medal for actions at Villers Brettoneux 24/5 April 1918
'On the 24th April 1918, North of CACHY near VILLERS BRETONNEUX, Private McLEAY was with a squad of Bearers with the 52nd Australian Infantry Battalion. In the confusion of the sudden move and attack the R.M.O. lost touch with the bearers, Private McLEAY on his own initiative, got in touch with the Regimental bearers on one hand and with the line of evacuation through the R.AP. of the 51st Australian Infantry Battalion on the other. It was owing to his coolness and judgment that the casualties were cleared from the Battalion from the beginning of the operation. There was considerable shell fire and direct Machine gun fire at the time.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 1
Date: 2 January 1919
Submitted 1 February 2025 by Steve Larkins
Biography contributed by Steve Larkins
Sir John McLeay, KCMG, MM
Extract from the Australian Dictionary of Biography (adb.anu.edu.au)
Sir John McLeay (1893–1982), businessman, lord mayor, and longest-serving and thirteenth Speaker of the House of Representatives, was born on 23 November 1893 at Port Clinton, South Australia, second of six children of Australian-born parents, George McLeay, farmer, and his wife, Marguaretta, née Barton. Jack was educated at Port Clinton public school and later, when the family moved to Adelaide for the sake of the children’s education, at Unley Central School. Leaving school at fourteen, he took his first job as a grocer’s boy with G. Wood Son & Co. Ltd. In 1906 he undertook a commercial course at Muirden College and subsequently became a commercial traveller for the glass and hardware merchants Thompson & Harvey. He was also an enthusiastic participant in basketball, football, cricket, tennis, lacrosse, and athletics.
On 13 May 1915, McLeay enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and served in medical units on Lemnos, in Egypt, and on the Western Front. As a stretcher-bearer with the 13th Field Ambulance, he was awarded the Military Medal for his initiative in organising the clearance of casualties while under heavy fire near Villers-Bretonneux, France, on 24 April 1918. Discharged as a lance corporal on 17 October 1919 in Adelaide, he joined his brother George in McLeay Bros, an accountancy and general agents firm, which later became a prominent wholesale and retail furnishing business. On 8 June 1921, at St Augustine’s Church of England at Unley, he married Eileen Henderson Elden, who was to be his political sounding board until her death in 1972.
With his two brothers, George and Reginald, McLeay was recruited into St Andrews Debating Society by an elder of their Presbyterian church, the former premier A. H. Peake (Advertiser 1946, 8). George became secretary of the Liberal and Country League (LCL) and unsuccessfully contested the Federal seat of Adelaide in 1922. John bitterly condemned as disloyal the party’s subsequent decision to endorse another candidate. Building on his involvement in local community issues, especially the welfare of returned servicemen, he was in 1925 elected to the Unley City Council. He was mayor of Unley from 1935 to 1937. When he successfully stood for the State seat of Unley in 1938, he chose to do so as an independent. He was defeated at the March 1941 election.
As an alderman of the City of Adelaide (1940–46), and then as lord mayor (1946–50), McLeay’s stated approach to politics was a simple but effective one of cultivating friendly personal relations and building trust. He recalled beginning his mayoralty wary of some of the notables he would have to deal with but decided that he ‘had to have this job to find out how really human these people are’ (Mail 1949, 7). On 10 December 1949, standing as an LCL candidate, he won the Federal seat of Boothby in south-east suburban Adelaide, a recent redistribution having made it a safe Liberal seat that he was to hold for nearly seventeen years. George, meanwhile, was a senator (1935–47, 1950–55), serving as government whip and leader in the Senate, and as a minister in the Lyons, Page, Fadden, and both Menzies governments.
Citation details
L. M. Barlin, 'McLeay, Sir John (Jack) (1893–1982)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mcleay-sir-john-jack-15037/text36501, published online 2021, accessed online 2 February 2025.
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