People Australia

John Arthur (Jack) Terry (1895-1972) carter and gaoled Communist organiser

Birth: 1895 in Sydney, New South Wales, son of London-born parents John Jesse Terry (1864-1952), a mechanic, from Greenwich, and his first wife Fanny, née Durrèe (1858-1941), a dressmaker, from Lambeth. Marriages: (1) 1917 at Sydney to Hilda Muriel Whellock (1898-1959), born at Lewisham, London, England. They had two sons before Jack, as had his father, deserted his wife. The marriage ended in divorce in January 1947. (2) 1949 in Sydney to native-born Alice Elinor (Nell), née Horton, late Walter (1904-1965), a divorcée with five children. Death: 31 May 1972 at Sacred Heart Hospice, Darlinghurst, Sydney; usual residence George Street, Waterloo, Sydney. Religion: Anglican. 

• His father deserted his son and pregnant wife in 1897, and sailed for the United States of America, where he remarried. Fanny remarried in 1922.
• Jack was a member of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) for many years.
• Injured when his foot was jammed in a travelling conveyor in February 1929, he was paid weekly compensation until at least December 1931.
• Meanwhile, he had been injured in June 1931 in an anti-eviction riot in Bankstown. On 13 November that year he and thirteen other men were sentenced to twelve months imprisonment with hard labour for his participation in the riot. He claimed that he had ”served four years at the war”; this has not been confirmed so far.
• The conviction was set aside on appeal on 18 December. In June 1932 he was CPA candidate for the State seat of Lakemba. A retrial for the eviction riot in September 1932 resulted in a hung jury. On 24 October that year, after a third trial, Terry was again sentenced to twelve months imprisonment. He was released in September 1933.
• Appointed CPA organiser, for District 1, Comrade Terry contested the NSW seat of Reid for the CPA in the federal elections in September 1934.
• He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1938 and was hospitalised. He seems to have been an organiser for the Timber Workers’ Union in 1945.
• In his later years he worked as an electrical fitter.
• Cause of death: cerebral tumour and diabetes mellitus.

Sources
Workers’ Weekly (Sydney), 15 September 1933 p.2; No. 513, 15 June 1934 p.2; No. 557.