Jim Cope

James Francis Cope CMG (26 November 1907  3 February 1999) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served in the House of Representatives from 1955 to 1975. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1973 to 1975, resigning abruptly in dramatic circumstances when he came into conflict with Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

Jim Cope
Cope in 1970
Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
In office
27 February 1973  27 February 1975
Preceded bySir William Aston
Succeeded byGordon Scholes
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Cook
In office
21 May 1955  10 December 1955
Preceded byTom Sheehan
Succeeded bySeat abolished
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Watson
In office
10 December 1955  25 October 1969
Preceded byDan Curtin
Succeeded bySeat abolished
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Sydney
In office
25 October 1969  11 November 1975
Preceded byNew seat
Succeeded byLes McMahon
Personal details
Born(1907-11-26)26 November 1907
Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Died3 February 1999(1999-02-03) (aged 91)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Political partyLabor
Spouse
Myrtle Hurst
(m. 1932)
OccupationGlassworker

Early life

Cope was born 26 November 1907 in Surry Hills, New South Wales. He was the youngest of five sons born to Martha (née Ellem) and George Eugene Cope. His father worked as a compositor and was a "strong supporter of the Australian Labor Party".[1]

Cope attended Crown Street Public School and Bourke Street Public School. He left school after two years of secondary education and began working as a messenger boy. He later worked as a machinist at the Randwick Tramway Workshops, but was retrenched during the Great Depression and relied on the dole for three years. He also worked part-time as a cricket umpire and billiard marker. During World War II, Cope worked for Amalgamated Wireless Valve making glass tubes for use in radar. After the war's end, he manufactured glass for laboratories. He served as federal treasurer of the Australian Glass Workers' Union from 1952 to 1955.[1]

Politics

Cope joined the ALP in 1930 and became president of its Redfern branch. He was elected to the Redfern Municipal Council in 1948.[1]

Following the death of the incumbent Labor MP Tom Sheehan, Cope was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1955 Cook by-election. His seat was abolished in a redistribution, but he switched to Watson at the 1955 federal election. He held Watson until its abolition in 1969, when he transferred to the new seat of Sydney.[1]

Speakership

On 27 February 1973, Cope was appointed the first Labor Speaker of the House since 1950. On 27 February 1975, the second anniversary of his election as speaker, he resigned after the Whitlam government refused to support him when he named Clyde Cameron, a government minister. Cope retired from parliament at the double dissolution election of 11 November 1975.

Later life

In the New Year's Honours of 1978, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG), for his services to the parliament.[2]

Cope died in 1999.[3]

References

  1. Black, Joshua (2021). "Cope, James Francis (Jim) (1907–1999)". Biographical Dictionary of the House of Representatives.
  2. "It's an Honour". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  3. Carr, Adam (2008). "Australian Election Archive". Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive. Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
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