John Thomson (1862 – 14 July 1934) was an Australian politician. He was a

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

from 1901 to 1904, representing the

Manning Manning (a.k.a. Mannion, Manning) is a family name. Origin and meaning Manning is from an old Norse word — manningi — meaning a brave or valiant man; and one of the first forms of the name was Mannin; another cartography was Mannyg ...

electorate. He was then a member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

from 1906 to 1919, representing Cowper for the Protectionist Party and its successors the

Commonwealth Liberal Party The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fus ...

and Nationalist Party.

Early life

Thomson was born at Woolla (now Kolodong), near

Taree Taree is a town on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. Taree and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then Taree has grown to a population of 26,381, and is the centre of a significant agricultural distri ...

, where his father was the local teacher. He was educated at Taree before entering his family's Taree general store business, taking over as manager following the death of his father in 1884. He was an alderman of the Municipality of Taree and its mayor from 1896 to 1901, president of the Manning River Agricultural & Horticultural Society and president of the Manning River District Hospital board.

New South Wales parliament

He was elected to the

at the 1901 state election in the Manning electorate as a member of the

Progressive Party (1901) The Progressive Party was an Australian political party, active in New South Wales state politics. The question of tariff policy which, had created and divided the Free Trade Party and Protectionist Party in New South Wales in the 1890s, became a ...

, defeating the sitting member James Young. The 1903 New South Wales referendum required the number of members of the Legislative Assembly to be reduced from 125 to 90, and the Manning was one of the abolished seats. Part of the Manning was absorbed into

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, and both Thomson and Young contested the seat at the 1904 state election, with Young defeating Thomson. He stood again as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Nationalist candidate for the state seat of

Oxley Oxley may refer to: Places Australia Australian Capital Territory * Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia Queensland *Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia ** Oxley railway station, Brisba ...

at the 1927 election, but was comfortably defeated.

Australian parliament

In 1906, Thomson was elected to the

as a

Protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

, defeating Henry Lee of the Anti-Socialist Party for the seat of Cowper. In 1909 he became a member of the

, the result of a fusion between the Protectionists and the Anti-Socialists. In 1911, he was part of the parliamentary party that visited

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

as guests for the Coronation of George V and Mary. He was a member of the Royal Commission on the Fruit Industry from 1912 to 1914, temporary chairman of committees from 1913 to 1917, a member of the Joint Committee on Public Accounts from 1914 to 1919 and its chairman from 1917. In 1917, the Commonwealth Liberal Party merged into the new Nationalist Party, and Thomson was Ministerial Whip from 1917 to 1919. He was defeated in 1920 by future

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

Earle Page Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page (8 August 188020 December 1961) was an Australian surgeon and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Australia, holding office for 19 days after the death of Joseph Lyons in 1939. He was the leade ...

, who contested for the Farmers and Settlers Association.

Later life

Following his parliamentary defeat, Thomson briefly resided in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

before returning to his family business, serving as chairman of directors of what was now incorporated as Thomsons Ltd., a role he held until his death. He also purchased a grazing and dairying property at Mount George, and increasingly retired there apart from his board duties in his later years. He died at Mount George in 1934 and was buried at the Dawson River Cemetery at Cundletown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, John Protectionist Party members of the Parliament of Australia Commonwealth Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Cowper Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1862 births 1934 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians