Sol Rosevear

The Honourable Sol Rosevear
Member of the Australian Parliament for Dalley
In office 19 December 1931 – 21 March 1953
Preceded by	Ted Theodore
Succeeded by	Arthur Greenup
11th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
In office 22 June 1943 – 21 February 1950
Preceded by	Walter Nairn
Succeeded by	Archie Cameron
Personal details
Born	4 January 1892 Pyrmont, New South Wales
Died	21 March 1953 (aged 61)
Nationality	Australian
Political party	NSW Labor (1931–36) Labor (1936–40) Labor (N-C) (1940–41) Labor (1941–53)
Spouse(s)	Clara May White
Occupation	Timber worker

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.

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.

References

• Bongiorno, Frank (2002). "Rosevear, John Solomon (1892–1953)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 2008-03-16.

External links