Thomas Francis Williams (7 April 1897 – 1992) was an Australian politician. Born in Young, New South Wales, Williams was educated at

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

schools and then the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, becoming a barrister in 1923. In 1943 Williams gained

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

(ALP) pre-selection for 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 ...

electorate of

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Places ...

and defeated sitting United Australia Party (UAP) member Eric Spooner at the 1943 federal election. Following the death in office of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

John Curtin on 5 July 1945, Williams urged that the caucus leadership ballot should be deferred until the return of

H.V. Evatt Herbert Vere Evatt, (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a judge of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General of Australia, Attorney-General and Minister for Foreign Aff ...

from overseas, whom Williams described as "the biggest man in political life in Australia".Abjorensen, p. 120. Instead, the caucus elected Ben Chifley as leader of the ALP parliamentary leader (and thus Prime Minister). Williams held the seat of Robertson until the 1949 federal election, when he was defeated by

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...

candidate Roger Dean. Williams returned to law and died in 1992.

Sources

* Abjorensen, N. (2016) ''The Manner of Their Going'', Australian Scholarly Publishing: Kew. .

References

Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Robertson Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1897 births 1992 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians People from Young, New South Wales {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub