Jim Cope

For the American football linebacker, see Jim Cope (American football).

The Honourable Jim Cope CMG
Cope in 1970
Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
In office 27 February 1973 – 27 February 1975
Preceded by	Sir William Aston
Succeeded by	Gordon Scholes
Member of the Australian Parliament for Cook
In office 21 May 1955 – 10 December 1955
Preceded by	Tom Sheehan
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
Member of the Australian Parliament for Watson
In office 10 December 1955 – 25 October 1969
Preceded by	Dan Curtin
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
Member of the Australian Parliament for Sydney
In office 25 October 1969 – 11 November 1975
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Les McMahon
Personal details
Born	(1907-11-26)26 November 1907 Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Died	3 February 1999(1999-02-03) (aged 91) Sydney, Australia
Political party	Labor
Spouse	Myrtle Hurst ​ (m. 1932)​
Occupation	Glassworker

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 was in the Chair presiding over question time, when he came into conflict with Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

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".

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.

Politics

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

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.

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.

Cope died in 1999.