Thomas Pearson Moody (14 April 1841 – 14 November 1917) was a mining engineer in Australia and New Zealand.

Early life

Thomas Pearson Moody was born in Killingworth, Westmoor, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and educated at Swansea,"A Voice from New Zealand" ''The Cambrian'' (3 March 1900): 5. the son of John Moody. His father was a colliery manager at

Cyfarthfa Cyfarthfa is a community and electoral ward in the west of the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales. Community Cyfarthfa mainly consists of the settlements of Gellideg and Heolgerrig and Rhyd-y-car area just west of Mer ...

, Merthyr Tydfil, where Thomas Pearson Moody worked early in his career. His brother, William Moody, was also in coal mining, in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Career

Thomas Pearson Moody left Wales in 1863, shortly after the deadly Gethin Pit Disaster; Thomas Pearson Moody worked at the Gethin Pit, and his father was charged with manslaughter in the following inquest. He became general manager, clerk, and surveyor of the colliery at

Waratah, New South Wales Waratah is a north-western residential suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, from Newcastle's central business district and bounded to the north by the Main North railway line. Waratah station was opened in 1858 and is served by N ...

, Australia; he left that position in 1869. Next he was superintendent of a sheep station at

Darling Downs, Queensland 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 general ...

. In 1875, he was named manager and engineer of the Australasian Coal Company. He was also first chairman of the New Castle Australasian Steamship Company. Thomas Pearson Moody moved to New Zealand in 1878, to run the Bay of Islands Coal Company, which helped to open the

Hikurangi Hikurangi is a settlement in Northland, New Zealand. The city of Whangārei is 17 km (11 miles) to the south, and Kawakawa is 39 km (24 miles) northwest. The Glenbervie Forest is southeast of the settlement. State Highway ...

coal fields in New Zealand. He retired from his work at Hikurangi in 1908. He was a member of the British Institute of Mining Engineers, the South Wales Institute of Mining Engineers, the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, and the British Geographical Society, among many other professional associations.

Personal life

Thomas Pearson Moody married Minnie Snowdon. They had six daughters and three sons. One son, Robert H. E. Moody, died in 1916, as a private in New Zealand's army in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

."Robert Henry Ernest Moody"
''New Zealand War Graves Project'' Auckland Museum. Of his Welsh nationality, Moody declared, "By birth I am a Northumbrian, by sympathy a Welshman. I am now an Australasian and I suppose a cosmopolite....Yet I languish for my old home, 'Yr Hen Wlad.'" Moody died in late 1917;"The Late Mr. Moody: A Pioneer Miner"
''Northern Advocate'' (15 November 1917): 2. his gravesite is at Kamo Public Cemetery in New Zealand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moody, Thomas Pearson Mining engineers People from the Northland Region 1841 births 1917 deaths