Sir Joseph Lyons

Businessman, born in London, UK. He first studied art, and invented a stereoscope before joining with three friends to establish a teashop in Piccadilly. He became head of one of the largest catering businesses in Britain - J Lyons and Co Ltd.

Joseph Lyons

10th Prime Minister of Australia
In office 6 January 1932 – 7 April 1939
Preceded by	James Scullin
Succeeded by	Earle Page
Born	15 September 1879 Stanley, Tasmania, Australia
Died	7 April 1939
Political party	Labor; United Australia

Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939), Australian politician, tenth Prime Minister of Australia.

Lyons was born in Circular Head, near Stanley, Tasmania, the son of Irish immigrants.

In 1909 Lyons was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly. Like most Australians of Irish Catholic background, Lyons was an anti-conscriptionist and stayed in the Labor Party, becoming its new leader in Tasmania.

In 1929 Lyons entered Federal politics, winning the seat of Wilmot in Labor's landslide victory under James Scullin.

In October 1930 Lyons announced his plan for recovery, insisting on the need to maintain a balanced budget and cut public spending and salaries, although also advising lower interest rates and the provision of greater credit for industry.

When Scullin returned in January 1931, he reappointed Theodore (as it had become clear Theodore would not be charged with corruption) to the Cabinet as Treasurer, which Lyons took as a rejection of his own policies.

However, Lyons was chosen as leader of the party (and thus became Leader of the Opposition) rather than the old Nationalist leader John Latham, as it was recognised that (as an affable family man with the common touch) he was a far more electorally appealing figure than the aloof Latham, and his Labor background and his Catholicism would allow him to win traditional Labor support groups (working-class voters and Irish Catholics) over to the new party.

In March, at about the same time as Lyons led his group of defectors from the right of the Labor Party across the floor, 5 left-wing NSW Labor MPs, supporters of New South Wales Premier Jack Lang, also split from the official Labor Party over the government's economic policies (for Lyons they had been too radical, for the Langites they were not radical enough), forming a "Lang Labor" group on the cross-benches. Lyons and the UAP offered stable, orthodox financial policies, and portrayed an image of putting national unity above class conflict (given credibility by Lyons, a man of working-class, Labor background, leading a conservative, largely middle and upper class party), while the Labor party remained split between the official party and the Langites. Lyons became the third former Labor party MP to become a non-Labor Prime Minister.

The UAP had the numbers in Parliament to govern on its own in Lyons's first term.

In 1934 the ambitious and talented Robert Menzies was elected to Parliament, and was immediately seen as Lyons's successor, although he denied that he was seeking to displace Lyons.

Lyons was one of the most genuinely popular men to hold the office of Prime Minister, and his death caused widespread grief.

He is the only person in Australian history to have been Prime Minister, Premier of a State, and Leader of the Opposition in both the Federal Parliament and a State Parliament (although George Reid had served as Premier of a colony before Federation).

His widow, Dame Enid Lyons, later went into politics in her own right, in 1943 becoming the first woman to sit in the House of Representatives, and later the first woman Cabinet Minister in the Menzies' Liberal government. Two of his sons later became involved in Tasmanian state politics in the Liberal Party- Kevin Lyons was Deputy Premier between 1969 and 1972 and Brendan Lyons served in the ministry of Robin Gray during the 1980s.

Preceded by: John Earle	Leader of the Opposition of Tasmania 1916-1923	Succeeded by: Edward Hobbs (acting)
Preceded by: Sir Walter Lee	Premier of Tasmania 1923-1928	Succeeded by: John McPhee
Preceded by: John McPhee	Leader of the Opposition of Tasmania 1928-1929	Succeeded by: Ben Watkins (acting)
Preceded by: John Latham	Leader of the Opposition 1931-32	Succeeded by: James Scullin
Preceded by: E G Theodore	Treasurer of Australia 1932-1935	Succeeded by: Richard Casey
Preceded by: James Scullin	Prime Minister of Australia 1932 – 1939	Succeeded by: Earle Page