Family background
Arthur Reginald Horatio Perry was born on 25 February 1888 at Newtown, NSW, the son of farmer and watchman, John Albert Perry, and Mary née O’Connor. Albert Perry married Mary Kathleen Greta Foster Rix (1893-1974) on 9 December 1950 at Sydney; she was a widow who lived on nearby Jennings Street. Perry died at Erskineville, NSW, on 19 October 1957, aged 69 years; he was buried at Woronora Cemetery. Arthur Perry lived at 115 Mitchell Street, Alexandria.
Occupation & interests
Arthur Perry worked as a boot clicker and boot maker. A Labor man, bootmaker Perry was explicitly non Communist, socially conservative with close links to the trade union movement.
Community activity
Perry was president of the Alexandria branch of the Australian Labor Party. He was described as ‘actively associated with the political world’ with ‘a keen interest in matters appertaining to the welfare of the working class’.
Local government service
Arthur Perry was an alderman on Alexandria Council 1932-48 representing the West Ward. He served as mayor three times: 1935, 1939 and 1946. As an unmarried mayor, he chose his niece, 19-year-old Beatrice Heness, for the role of mayoress to assist in his social and charitable duties.
References
Polling for Municipal Elections’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 January 1932, p. 6, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16831458
‘Shy, But Undismayed; 19-year-old Mayoress’, The Sun, 18 January 1935, p. 9, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230263995
‘Mayor Defends Bachelors Rights’, The Sun, 30 January 1936, p. 36, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230082567
The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 December 1938, p. 16, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17545299