John Albert Beasley was born and educated in Werribee, Victoria. After leaving school he became an electrician and moved to New South Wales. He was later President of the Electrical Trades Union of New South Wales and President of the NSW Trades and Labour Council (1922-28). In 1926, Beasley was a member of the Australian Delegation to the Eighth and Ninth Sessions of the International Labour Organizations of the League of Nations in Geneva.
 
Elected to the House of Representatives in 1928 as member for West Sydney (NSW), Beasley held the seat through the next six elections until he resigned from Parliament in 1946. His first portfolio experience came during the Scullin Government, when he was appointed Assistant Minister for both External Affairs and Industry (1929-31, including Acting Minister 1930-31). In 1930, Beasley was also appointed Honorary Minister in charge of Australia's Mandated Territories. At the time, these included the separate territories of New Guinea and Papua. 

After the Labour split of the 1930s, Beasley became Federal Leader of the NSW Lang Labour Party. In May 1940, following another split of the NSW Labor Party, he became Leader of the Parliamentary ALP (Non-Communist) until it rejoined the official Opposition in March 1941.
 
During World War II, Beasley was a member of the Advisory War Council (1940-45) and of the War Cabinet and Production Executive of Cabinet (1941-46), Minister for Supply and Development (1941-42), Minister for Supply and Shipping (1942-45) and Vice-President of the Executive Council (February-July 1945). In early 1945, during the Prime Minister (John Curtin)'s illness, Beasley was Acting Minister for Defence and later took full responsibility for the portfolio as Minister (1945-46). For periods during Dr H V Evatt's absences overseas in 1942, 1943, and 1945 he also acted as Attorney-General and, in 1944, was Leader of the Australian Delegation to the Twenty-sixth Session of the International Labour Organizations of the League of Nations held in Philadelphia, USA.

After leaving federal politics, Beasley was appointed Australian Resident Minister in London and was later High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (1946-49). He was appointed a Member of the Privy Council on 1 January 1946.
 
During a trip to Australia in 1949, Beasley was admitted to St Vincent's Private Hospital in Sydney to undergo tests for high blood pressure. He died in hospital on 2 September 1949.
 

Sources

1. Who's Who in Australia 1933-34, 1944 and 1947
2. Commonwealth Parliamentary Handbook, 11th ed, 1945-53
3. Rydon, J, A Biographical Register of the Commonwealth Parliament, 1901-1972 (Canberra, ANU Press, 1975)
4. CA 3, Cabinet Secretariat [I]: CRS A3264, Scullin Ministry, Folder of typed copies of Cabinet minutes (7 Nov 1929-23 Jun 1931)
5. Sydney Morning Herald, 25 July 1930, 3 September 1949; Index, 1942, 1943
6. Robertson, J, J H Scullin, A Political Biography (Nedlands, University of Western Australia Press, 1974)
7. Ross, L, John Curtin: A Biography (South Melbourne, Macmillan and Company, 1977)
8. Crisp, L F, Ben Chifley (London, Longmans, Green and Company, 1960)
9. CA 12, Prime Ministers Department: CRS A461, Correspondence files, multiple number series, third system, 1934-1950, item B348/1/5, Part 2 'Appointment of Minister to act as High Commissioner, London' (Oct 1932-Mar 1950)
10. Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No 4 (10 Jan 1946) and No 150 (15 Aug 1946)