People Australia

Ted Riley, n.d.

National Library of Australia, 23481023

Edward Charles (Young Ted) Riley (1892-1969) clerk, trade union official and parliamentarian

Birth: 9 August 1892 at Newtown, Sydney New South Wales, son of Edward Riley (1859-1931), plasterer and parliamentarian, born at Glasgow, Scotland, and Annabel (Annie), née Kirk (1858-1931), born at Boa Island, County Fermanagh, Ireland. Marriage: 27 September 1924 in Sydney to native-born Cordelia Daly (1893-c.1960). They had two sons. Death: 31 May 1969 in his usual residence at Alison Road, Randwick, Sydney. Religion Anglican. 

• His father and mother were founders of the Australian Labor Party.
• Young Ted was educated at Darlington and Stanmore public schools. Obtained work as a clerk. He was a founder of the Federated Clerks Union of NSW and was its secretary to 1916. Later was secretary of the Commonwealth Clerical Officers’ Association and was secretary to the Telephone Exchange Association.
• Enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 18 October 1916. Served with the Australian Army Service Corps in England and France. Returned to Australia and was discharged in Sydney on 5 October 1919.
• Had joined the Australian Labor Party about 1908. Was a member of the Newtown Labor League, later secretary of Warringah Labor League.
• Elected member of the House of Representatives for seat of Cook on 16 December 1922, defeating the expelled Labor member J. H. Catts.
• In parliament Riley was a member of the Joint Committee on Public Accounts 1926, vice-chairman 1927-1928; ministerial whip 1929-1931; and Opposition whip 1931-1934. He remained loyal to the Federal Labor Party in the Byzantine political maneuverings caused by J. T. Lang, and narrowly defeated the Lang candidate Jock Garden in the 1931 general election. In the following election on 15 September 1934, however, Garden prevailed and Riley left parliament.
• He was an unsuccessful candidate for ALP preselection for the Federal seat of Newcastle in May 1935 and for his former seat of Cook in November 1936. In October 1935 he had been appointed secretary of the new War Pensions Entitlement Tribunal by the Lyons Federal government.
• Was a member of the Australian War Memorial board of management (later board of trustees) from May 1930 to December 1966.
• At death he was described as an advertising executive. Cause of death: acute pulmonary oedema and hypertensive myocardial failure (Coroner’s report).
• Brother of Hope Riley, mayoress of Newtown in 1928-1930. Brother-in-law of Senator Walter L. Duncan.

Who’s Who in Australia 1935-1950; L. F. Crisp & S. P. Bennett, Australian Labor Party: federal personnel 1901-1954, (Canberra, 1954); BR; Labor Daily Supplement, 14 November 1925; N. B. Nairn, The ‘Big Fella’: Jack Lang and the Australian Labor Party (Melbourne, 1986), pp 50, 252 and 272.