Henry Littleton Groom (4 January 1860 – 4 January 1926) was a journalist, company director, and member of the

Queensland Legislative Council The Queensland Legislative Council was the upper house of the parliament in the Australian state of Queensland. It was a fully nominated body which first took office on 1 May 1860. It was abolished by the Constitution Amendment Act 1921, which to ...

Early life and business career

Groom was born at

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

Colony of Queensland The Colony of Queensland was a colony of the British Empire from 1859 to 1901, when it became a State in the federal Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. At its greatest extent, the colony included the present-day State of Queensland, t ...

,Groom, Henry Littleton (1860–1926)
–

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

Retrieved 15 March 2015. in 1860 to

William Henry Groom William Henry Groom (9 March 1833 – 8 August 1901) was an Australian publican, newspaper proprietor, and politician who served as a member of the Parliament of Queensland from 1862 to 1901 and of the Parliament of Australia in 1901. Early li ...

and his wife Grace (née Littleton). His father, an

auctioneer An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

, went on to be a member of both the

Queensland Parliament The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral s ...

and, being the only transported convict ever to do so,

Australian Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

.Groom, William Henry (1833–1901)
–

. Retrieved 17 March 2015. After his education at St Mary's School, Ipswich, and

Brisbane Grammar School , motto_translation = Nothing Without Labour , established = 1868 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Non-denominational , slogan = , key_people = , ci ...

, he commenced work at his father's newspaper,

The Toowoomba Chronicle ''The Toowoomba Chronicle'' is a daily newspaper serving Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley and Darling Downs regional areas in Queensland, Australia. As of 2016, the newspaper is owned by News Corp Australia, and forms part of their Regional Media ...

and before long he was promoted to business manager. As his father's political interests gained momentum, Henry became the backbone of The Chronicle and in 1900 the business went from being a sole proprietorship to W. H. Groom & Sons with Henry now a director. When his father died in August 1901, Henry became managing director and remained in that position until the Grooms sold their interest in the business to the Dunn family in 1922.

Political career

In 1904, Groom unsuccessfully contested the seat of Drayton and Toowoomba in the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

following the death of John Fogarty. In July 1906 however, he was appointed by

William Kidston William Kidston (17 August 1849 – 25 October 1919) was an Australian bookseller, politician and Premier of Queensland, from January 1906 to November 1907 and again from February 1908 to February 1911. Early life William Kidston was born in Fa ...

to the Queensland Legislative Council and remained there until the Council was abolished in 1922. His time in the Council was unremarkable and, except for one major speech on closer settlement, he rarely spoke. As a politician he was inferior to his younger brother,

Littleton Groom Sir Littleton Ernest Groom KCMG KC (22 April 18676 November 1936) was an Australian politician. He held ministerial office under four prime ministers between 1905 and 1925, and subsequently served as Speaker of the House of Representatives fr ...

, a future Speaker of the Federal Parliament and member for the federal seat of

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generall ...

.Groom, Sir Littleton Ernest (1867–1936)
– ''

'' Retrieved 15 March 2015.

Personal life

In 1898, Groom married Marion Flora Black at Toowoomba and together they had four children. In his younger years Groom had been a member of the

Queensland Defence Force Until Australia became a Federation of Australia, Federation in 1901, each of the six colonies were responsible for their own defence. From 1788 until 1870 this was done with British regular forces. In all, 24 British infantry regiments served i ...

, rising to the rank of Lieutenant. As a member of the Toowoomba contingent, he was sent to

Charleville Charleville can refer to: Australia * Charleville, Queensland, a town in Australia **Charleville railway station, Queensland France * Charleville, Marne, a commune in Marne, France *Charleville-Mézières, a commune in Ardennes, France ** C ...

during the shearers' strike of 1891. Groom died in January 1926. After a short service at St James Church, his funeral proceeded to the

Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery at the corner of South Street and Anzac Avenue, Harristown, Queensland, Australia. It was surveyed in May 1850, and is one of the earliest surviving cemeteries in Queensland. The cem ...

for burial.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Groom, Henry Members of the Queensland Legislative Council 1860 births 1926 deaths Burials in Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery People from Toowoomba Colony of Queensland people