Preceded by Ted Theodore Occupation Timber worker Resigned March 21, 1953 Spouse(s) Clara May White Succeeded by Arthur Greenup | Nationality Australian Role Australian Politician Preceded by Walter Nairn Name Sol Rosevear | |
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Born 4 January 1892
Pyrmont, New South Wales ( 1892-01-04 ) Political party NSW Labor (1931–36)
Labor (1936–40)
Labor (N-C) (1940–41)
Labor (1941–53) Died March 21, 1953, Lewisham, Sydney, Australia | ||
John Solomon "Sol" Rosevear (4 January 1892 – 21 March 1953) was an Australian politician, and was Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 1943 to 1949.
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Early life
Rosevear was born at Pyrmont, New South Wales to carter William John Rosevear and Maria, née McGuirk. He attended the local public school and worked in the timber industry. On 23 September 1916 at Pyrmont he married machinist Clara May White. Involved in the timberworkers' strike of 1929, he was subsequently unemployed and completed relief work.
Politics
Rosevear was an Australian Labor Party official and organised Ted Theodore's campaign in 1929. After the 1931 Labor split, however, Rosevear joined the Lang Labor breakaway and defeated Theodore in his seat of Dalley in the election of that year. He sat in the House of Representatives under the leadership of Jack Beasley until 1936, when the two factions reunited. Following the second split of 1940, Rosevear was deputy-leader of the Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist).
In 1941, John Curtin reunited the Labor Party and Rosevear rejoined the ALP. He was disappointed not to receive a cabinet post, but was appointed Speaker of the House of Representatives on 22 June 1943. He gained a reputation as an inflexible Speaker, accused by the media and the Opposition of partisanship; journalist E.H. Cox claimed that he was "frequently drunk in the Chair". Rosevear also permitted illegal gambling in the Chamber, and participated himself.
Rosevear continued to be influential in caucus, and it was rumoured that he hoped to succeed Ben Chifley as party leader, but his "taste for grog" was seen as a disqualification by some. In the 1949 election the Chifley government was defeated by the Liberal/Country Party coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies and Rosevear lost the Speakership. He continued to sit in the House until his death of coronary occlusion on 21 March 1953. He was survived by his wife, a son, and a daughter. A portrait of Rosevear by Joshua Smith won the Archibald Prize in 1944.