Bealey stood for election in the Town of Christchurch electorate for the first Provincial Council on 3 September 1853.

Five candidates contested the three positions, and Bealey received the second highest number of votes at 74.

Charles Fooks (a brother-in-law of Guise and Joseph Brittan) and Edward Dobson were defeated (at 51 and 21 votes, respectively).

[4] Bealey was again elected onto the Provincial Council on 8 May 1862, this time in the City of Christchurch electorate.

In 1863 William Sefton Moorhouse was in financial crisis, and put in Bealey as Superintendent instead, as a "safe man", to keep his rival James FitzGerald out.