William Kearsley was an Australian politician and member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 from 1910 until 1921. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 (ALP) .

Kearsley was born in Stafford, England. He was educated to be a Methodist minister and emigrated to the northern New South Wales coal fields in 1888. After an initially career as a preacher he became a coal miner and was then elected as an official in the miners' union in 1907. He was elected unopposed to the seat of Northumberland

Electoral district of Northumberland

Northumberland was an electoral district for the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales from 1859 to 1913, in the Newcastle area and named after Northumberland County. It elected two members simultaneously between 1880 and 1887 and three members between 1887 and 1894...

 at a by-election caused by the resignation of Mathew Charlton who contested the seat of Hunter

Division of Hunter

The Division of Hunter is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It is located in northern rural New South Wales, and encompasses much of the Hunter Valley region, including the towns of Singleton, Maitland, Muswellbrook, Cessnock and Denman...

 at the 1910

Australian federal election, 1910

Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 April 1910. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

 federal election. He retained the seat of Northumberland until it was abolished at the 1913 state election. He was then elected to the seat of Cessnock

Electoral district of Cessnock

Cessnock is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales in the rural fringe of the Hunter. It is represented by Clayton Barr of the Australian Labor Party.-History:...

 and retained it until the introduction of multi-member seats and proportional representation at the 1920 state election . Kearsley was one of five members elected for the seat of Newcastle

Electoral district of Newcastle

Newcastle is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales named after and including Newcastle. It is represented by Tim Owen of the Liberal Party of Australia.-History:...

 at the subsequent election. He died in the following year and was replaced by David Murray

David Murray (Australian politician)

David Murray was an Australian politician and member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1921 until his death in 1928. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party ....

. He did not hold ministerial or party office.