Thomas Laidlaw (23 September 1813 – 12 June 1876) was a Scottish-born Australian politician. He was born at Melrose in

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and Berw ...

to merchant Alexander Laidlaw and Helen Cochrane. A banker, he migrated to New South Wales in 1839 and settled at

Yass Yass may refer to: People * Catherine Yass (born 1963), painter * Yazz, a British pop singer from the 1980s and 1990s * Jeff Yass (born 1956), options trader, managing director and one of the five founders of the Philadelphia-based Susquehanna I ...

, where he became a partner in a general store. In 1841 he married Catherine Galvin, however she died the following year and they had no children. In 1859 he was elected unopposed to 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 ...

for Yass Plains, but immediately resigned as he realised his role as deputy postmaster at Yass, on a salary of £20 a year, was an office of profit under the crown which disqualified him from parliament. He resigned as postmaster and was re-elected unopposed. He declined the position of

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in the second Cowper ministry. He did not re-contest in 1860 and could not be persuaded to stand for parliament again. He remained active in local politics, supporting the re-election of

Robert Isaacs Robert McIntosh Isaacs (26 September 1815 – 26 March 1876) was an Australian politician. Robert M. Isaacs was born at Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, the son of Robert Glover Isaacs and Ann (''née'' Frett). He was educated in E ...

in 1866. He was nominated at the election in 1869, however this was without his consent as he supported the candidacy of Michael Fitzpatrick. In 1866 he sold his store, which had now expanded to include brewery and post office, and became a pastoralist. Laidlaw died at Yass on .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laidlaw, Thomas 1813 births 1876 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 19th-century Australian politicians