McLeay was born on 23 November 1893 in Port Clinton, South Australia. He was the second of six children born to Marguaretta and George McLeay. His older brother George McLeay Jr. also entered federal politics, serving as a government minister. Their father, a farmer, died in 1908, and their mother moved the family to Adelaide. Their horse became exhausted along the way and the older children had to walk the last on foot. McLeay attended state schools in Port Clinton and Unley until the age of fourteen, leaving school to work as an errand boy. He later studied at Muirden College, a business college in Adelaide, and worked as a commercial traveller. McLeay enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in May 1915. He served with medical units in the Middle East and on the Western Front. While stationed in France as a stretcher-bearer with the 13th Field Ambulance, he was awarded the Military Medal for bravery on the opening day of the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux in April 1918. He was formally discharged from the military in October 1919. After returning to Australia, McLeay went into business with his brother George as accountants and general agents. Their firm McLeay Bros later evolved into a wholesale and retail furnishing business. He married Eileen Elden in 1921, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.
State and local politics
Elected to the Adelaide suburban Unley City Council in 1924, McLeay served as Mayor of Unley from 1935 to 1937, resigning to contest the state Electoral district of Unley as an independent at the 1938 election. He was one of 14 lower house MPs to be elected as an independent, which as a grouping won 40 percent of the primary vote, more than either of the major parties. At the time, there were 39 MPs in the legislature. Tom Stott was the de facto leader of the independent caucus within parliament. McLeay lost Unley at the 1941 election and later acknowledged that his three-year period in the House of Assembly was a waste of time, in terms of his being able to accomplish anything as an independent.
Federal politics
Nevertheless McLeay did not stay out of politics for long. He was elected Lord Mayor of Adelaide in 1946, and held that office till 1949, during which time he gained Liberal and Country League pre-selection for the federal electorate of Boothby in south-central Adelaide for that year's federal election. The seat had been held by Labor incumbent Thomas Sheehy, but a redistribution notionally made the seat a marginal LCL seat. While Sheehy made an unsuccessful bid to transfer to neighbouring Kingston, McLeay won Boothby on a large swing of 9.3 percent, turning it into a safe LCL seat in one stroke. He entered the Australian House of Representatives as part of that year's massive Coalition landslide. In 1956 McLeay became Speaker of the House. He remained Speaker for more than 10 years, until he resigned from parliament on 31 October 1966. In 1959, following the 1958 federal election, he was challenged unsuccessfully for the Liberals' speakership nomination by Percy Joske. He was re-elected to the speakership unopposed in 1959, 1962, and 1964. During his tenure there were only three dissent motions against his rulings, and he received praise from Robert Menzies, Arthur Calwell, and Gough Whitlam. Calwell said that he would have asked McLeay to stay on in the position if Labor won the 1961 election, while Whitlam described him as "ideal for the post" and wrote that "in my experience and observation the House has not had a better Speaker".
Later life
Following his retirement, McLeay served as Chairman of McLeay Brothers Ltd. and director of other companies, as well as member of the Tramways Trust Board, the State Bank of South Australia and the council of the University of Adelaide. He also served as president of the Adelaide Legacy Club, the South Australian Retail Furniture Association, the South Australian Playground Association and the South Australian Tree Planters Association. McLeay was nicknamed "Marrow Jack" for his prowess in vegetable-growing. Created a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1962 for political and community services, McLeay had family members who carried on the tradition of political activism. His brother George and his son John Jnr both served in the federal parliament, John Jnr having inherited the electorate of Boothby from John Snr. McLeay died in Adelaide after a short illness, predeceased by his wife, Lady Eileen. A state funeral was held in his honour.
