{{Short description|Australian civil servant}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2020}} {{one source|date=March 2017}} '''Beryl Elizabeth McLeish''', (''[[née]]'' '''King'''; 6 February 1902{{spaced ndash}}10 January 1974) was an Australian [[Civil service|civil servant]] and a wartime superintendent of the [[Australian Women's Land Army]] (AWLA).
==Early life== Beryl Elizabeth King was born on 6 February 1902 in [[Gympie]], [[Queensland]], the eldest child of engine driver Walter Henry King and music teacher Alice Mary (''née'' Marshall). She attended the local school and relocated to Brisbane in 1920 to join the [[Queensland Public Service]], working as private secretary to the under-secretaries of the Department of Labour Industry.<ref name=adb>{{cite web|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mcleish-beryl-elizabeth-11013|title=McLeish, Beryl Elizabeth (1902–1974)|last=Taylor|first=Helen|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=Australian National University|access-date=5 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305191847/http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mcleish-beryl-elizabeth-11013|archive-date=2017-03-05|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Personal life and career== King married solicitor Edward Francis Pender on 5 August 1939 at the [[All Saints Anglican Church, Brisbane|All Saints Church]] in [[Wickham Terrace]]. She became secretary of the local chapter of the [[Australian Comforts Fund|Australian Comforts Fund's]] Queensland division. In 1941, her husband enlisted in the [[Second Australian Imperial Force|Australian Imperial Force]]; a year later, King was appointed as the administrative officer of the [[Australian Women's Land Army]] (AWLA) in Queensland. The couple filed for divorce some five years later. The AWLA worked to [[Mobilization|mobilise]] female workers to replace male workers who had left to fight during [[World War II|the war]]. McLeish was instrumental in [[Recruitment|recruiting]] women, and in overcoming the skepticism of some farmers who were uneasy with having women replace their male workers.<ref name=adb/>
King married 74-year-old grazier Daniel Matthew McLeish on 31 October 1946 at the [[Ann Street Presbyterian Church]] in [[Brisbane]]. In the 1950s, she moved to [[Auchenflower, Queensland|Auchenflower]], Brisbane where she found an administrative job at Building & Industrial Supplies. She retired in her 60s. Her second husband Daniel McLeish died in 1973, and King herself died on 10 January 1974 in Auchenflower.<ref name=adb/>
==References== <references />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McLeish, Beryl}} [[Category:1902 births]] [[Category:1974 deaths]] [[Category:Australian public servants]] [[Category:Australian women public servants]] [[Category: Australian Women's Land Army members]]