People Australia

George Roy Acaster (Roy) Beardsworth (1888-1939) storeman, trade union leader 

Birth: 6 August 1888 at Tamrookum Creek, near Beaudesert, Queensland, son of English-born parents Ernest Henry Beardsworth, farmer, later clerk, and Edith Rose, née Dean. Marriage: 14 November 1914 at Collingwood, Victoria, to Elsie Elizabeth Hart. They had four sons and one daughter. Death: 26 November 1939 at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne. Religion: Anglican. 

• To Victoria with family about 1898.
• First trade union position as organiser with Storemen and Packers’ Union. Later Secretary of Hospital, Dispensary and Asylum Employees’ Union.
• 1939 president of Trades Hall Salaried Officers’ Association. One-time president of Australian Labor Party, Victorian Branch, Trades Hall Council.
• Actively involved in municipal politics as member of Chelsea Council from 1924 to 1939; twice elected mayor.
• Labor candidate against Stanley Melbourne Bruce, contested Henty and Dandenong.
• Opposed Premier’s Plan, 1931.
• Fatally injured in motor accident near Ararat in the course of work.
• Member of the Australasian Kilwinning Lodge, No. 2, A. F., and A. M. [Ancient Free and Accepted Masons] and the Kilwinning Mark Lodge, No. 2. United Grand Lodge of Victoria.

Sources
Labor Year Book, 1934/5; Labor Call, 14 December 1922, 30 November  1939.