Thomas Patrick Howard (13 March 1880 – 9 July 1949) was an Australian trade unionist and politician. He was a member of the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

from 1933 to 1938, representing the Lang Labor Party (1933), South Australian Lang Labor Party (1933–1934) and Labor Party (1934–1938). Howard was born in Gilbert Street,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, and educated at Christian Brothers College. He worked as a shop assistant in a warehouse before apprenticing as a painter and decorator in 1894, later working as a house painter. He became a delegate for the Labor Party in 1908, and was elected president of the Painters' Union in 1909. He became the union's assistant state secretary in 1913, and succeeded T. B. Merry as state secretary that December. He served as state secretary of the Painters and Decorators Union until 1934. He was the secretary of the Anti-Conscription Campaign in 1916, represented his union on both the

United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia SA Unions (originally the United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia) is the peak body for trade unions in South Australia. It coordinates political, social, economic, and industrial campaigns between its affiliate members and implements ...

and the

United Labor Party The South Australian Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch) and commonly referred to simply as South Australian Labor, is the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, originally formed ...

, served on the union's federal council and was a member of the Painters and Decorators' Wages Board. In 1918, he was elected president of the Trades and Labor Council, and in 1920 shifted to the role of its secretary, which he would hold until 1932. He was an unsuccessful Labor candidate for the House of Assembly at the 1918 election, 1921 election and 1924 election, in the Liberal-leaning seats of Sturt and Barossa. In 1933, in the wake of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and the 1931 Labor split, Howard was elected to the

for

, representing the Lang Labor Party, a faction of the Labor Party supporting the ideas of Jack Lang, the

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...

. In April, however, he and fellow Lang Labor MP Bob Dale left the party after disputes with leader

Doug Bardolph Douglas Henry Bardolph (18 February 1893 – 2 February 1951) was an Australian journalist, trade unionist and politician. History Henry Bardolph (ca.1854 – 22 June 1933) and Mary Bardolph (née Taggart) had five sons, and lived at Manly, New ...

, forming their own breakaway group, the South Australian Lang Labor Party. In June 1934 the various Labor factions were reunited. Howard was defeated at the next election in 1938. In 1945, he retired from the union movement and his then role as state secretary of the Shop Employees and Warehouse Employees' Union, citing failing hearing. He died at his home in Sturt Street, Adelaide in 1949, aged 69, and was buried in the Catholic Cemetery at West Terrace.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Tom 1880 births 1949 deaths Lang Labor politicians Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of South Australia 20th-century Australian politicians