[6] His name first appeared in the Christchurch newspaper The Star in 1899, when he was elected onto the committee of the model yacht club.

[15] Beanland was narrowly defeated in January 1912 when he stood for the St Albans seat of the Drainage Board.

[16] He was first elected to Christchurch City Council in 1914 in the St Albans ward for the conservative-leaning Citizens' Association.

[23][24] In October 1924, Beanland announced that he would contest the next mayoral election in April 1925, and that he would not stand for re-election for the Christchurch Tramway Board, so that he had sufficient time for the mayoralty.

[25][27] Beanland claimed that he had been persuaded in 1923 to not stand for the mayoralty, and that he would in turn receive the support of the Citizens' Association in 1925.

[28] This situation apparently caused great friction within the Citizens' Association, but all rumours to this effect were categorically denied.

[32][33] Beanland contested the Lyttelton electorate in the 1928 election for the Reform Party, but was beaten by Labour's James McCombs.

[35] In February 1936, the mayor of Christchurch, Dan Sullivan, resigned from the mayoralty after he had been appointed by the Labour government as a cabinet minister.

[39] Beanland stood as a city councillor and was narrowly returned; he was 15th for the 16 positions, and only three votes ahead of the candidate in 17th place.

[42] The family grave is at Bromley Cemetery and holds Mary and John Beanland, the wife of their son Walton, and a grandchild.