Percy Bayley

{{Short description|Australian politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix =

|name = Percy Bayley

|honorific-suffix =

|image =

|caption =

| constituency_AM1 = Pittsworth

| assembly1 = Queensland Legislative

| term_start1 = 22 May 1915

| term_end1 = 9 October 1920

| predecessor1 = Donald MacKintosh

| successor1 = Cecil Roberts

| alongside1 =

|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1879|12|21}}

|birth_place = Franklin, Tasmania, Australia

|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1942|8|16|1879|12|21}}

|death_place = Quinalow, Queensland, Australia

|restingplace = Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery

|birthname = Percy Mollineux Bayley

|nationality = Australian

|party = Queensland Farmers Union

|otherparty =

|spouse = Mary Elizabeth Evans (m.1904 d.1968)

|known_for =

| occupation = Farmer

| relations =

| alma_mater = Gatton Agricultural College

}}

Percy Mollineux Bayley (21 December 1879[https://linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/all/search/results?qu=percy&qu=bayley Bayley,Percy Mollineux] – Tasmanian Government births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. Retrieved 17 April 2016. – 16 August 1942) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1915 to 1920.{{cite web|title=Former Members|publisher=Parliament of Queensland|year=2015| url=http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/members/former/bio?id=578025520|accessdate=17 April 2016}}

Bayley was born at Franklin, Tasmania, the son of James Mollineux Bayley and his wife Mary Alice (née Frencham). He was educated at Brisbane Grammar School and then attended the Gatton Agricultural College, where he studied cheese and butter making. Following his graduation from Gatton, he was appointed manager of the Pittsworth Co-Op Dairy Association in 1899. Bayley successfully expanded the company's operations, establishing branches across the district and turning around the company's fortunes, although an attempt at establishing a butter factory was less successful.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197555115 |title=OBITUARY |newspaper=Pittsworth Sentinel |volume=42 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=19 August 1942 |accessdate=7 December 2019 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Bayley, a member of the Queensland Farmers Union, won the seat of Pittsworth in the Queensland Legislative Assembly at the 1915 state election.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20014327 |title=COUNTRY ELECTORATES. |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |issue=17,894 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=24 May 1915 |accessdate=17 April 2016 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}} He was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in the same year, suffering head injuries so severe that "his recovery was regarded as miraculous". Bayley was re-elected as an "Independent Nationalist" in 1918 after a deal to swap contingency votes with the endorsed National candidate. However, in 1920, with the increasing formalisation of a Country Party, he fell out with the Primary Producers' Union over the holding of a preselection plebiscite, withdrew his name from contention, and contested the election as an "Independent Country Party" candidate.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174105648 |title=STATE POLITICS. |newspaper=Darling Downs Gazette |issue=9169 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=13 September 1920 |accessdate=7 December 2019 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} He was soundly defeated at the 1920 election by endorsed Country Party candidate Cecil Roberts.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article216979178 |title=THE ELECTIONS. |newspaper=The Bundaberg Mail |volume=50 |issue=7,208 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=18 October 1920 |accessdate=7 December 2019 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} Bayley was the chairman of the Pittsworth State School Committee, and one of his achievements as a state MP was achieving the relocation of the school to a more suitable site.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174102572 |title=PITTSWORTH DISTRICT HIGH SCHOOL. |newspaper=Darling Downs Gazette |issue=9239 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=6 December 1920 |accessdate=7 December 2019 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Bayley became a farmer after his political career, owning a property at Brookstead for many years before selling and purchasing a property at Oakey. He worked the Oakey property with one of his sons until his death. He died at Quinalow in 1942 and was buried in the Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery.[http://www.tr.qld.gov.au/facilities-recreation/cemeteries/deceased-search/burial/52230 Deceased search] – Toowoomba Regional Council Retrieved 17 April 2016.Wikipedia citation

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50128337 |title=OBITUARY |newspaper=The Courier-mail |issue=2812 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=9 September 1942 |accessdate=7 December 2019 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Bayley married Mary Elizabeth Evans (died 1968)[https://www.qld.gov.au/law/births-deaths-marriages-and-divorces/family-history-research/ Family history research] – Queensland Government births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. Retrieved 17 April 2016. on 6 September 1904 and together had two sons and three daughters.

His sister, Irene Longman, was the first woman to stand and be elected to the Queensland Parliament, while his brother, James Bayley, was a long-serving federal MP who also had a brief stint as a state MP.{{cite web|title=Former Members|publisher=Parliament of Queensland|year=2015| url=http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/members/former/bio?id=485419619|accessdate= 31 January 2015}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22162757 |title=WYNNUM SEAT. |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |issue=23,428 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=2 March 1933 |accessdate=7 December 2019 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}