Hillson Beasley was born on 30 April 1855 at
Canterbury, Kent in
England, the son of Edward Beasley and Caroline (née Saunders). He was educated at
Wesley College, Sheffield, following which he was articled to an architect in
Dover. Beasley then practised in
London,
Carlisle and
Oxford. On 22 December 1877 he married Fanny Clarke at
Great Missenden,
Buckinghamshire. The couple relocated to the
Cape Colony in
South Africa, where Beasley worked in the architectural branch of the Public Works Department for three years. They subsequently emigrated to Melbourne in 1886 where Beasley opened his own architectural practice. His works in Melbourne included the Presbyterian (Uniting) Church in
St Kilda. Beasley also taught at the Working Men's College and the
University of Melbourne. In 1896 Beasley moved to
Western Australia where he joined the
Public Works Department as a specification draftsman. In 1897 he became chief draftsman and assistant to
John Grainger, who succeeded
George Temple-Poole as
Principal Architect that year. In 1905 Beasley was appointed Principal Architect, succeeding Grainger. In fact, he had been acting in the position since November 1903, when Grainger departed on extended leave owing to illness. In his role as Principal Architect, Beasley oversaw a great number of new government works and additions in Perth, Fremantle and towns along the railway to the eastern goldfields. He designed or was responsible for the
Government House ballroom (1899),
Parliament House, Perth (1900), Claremont Teacher Training College (1902),
Perth Modern School (1909–11), additions to the original
Art Gallery of Western Australia (1906), Midland Courthouse (1907),
Fremantle Post Office (1907),
Fremantle Customs House (1908), Fremantle Technical College annexe (1910), the
State Library of Western Australia (1911) and the Chief Secretary's Office & Medical and Public Health Buildings (1912). In 1917 Beasley retired from the Public Works Department. Between 1920 and 1921 he lectured in architecture at the
University of Western Australia. In his later life Beasley moved to
Albany, where he died on 7 October 1936 and was buried in the local Presbyterian cemetery. ==References==