Thomas Glassey

Thomas Glassey (26 February 1844 – 28 September 1936) was an Irish-born Australian politician.

The Honourable Thomas Glassey
Senator for Queensland
In office 30 March 1901 – 31 December 1903
Leader of the Opposition of Queensland
In office 30 August 1898 – 12 May 1899
Succeeded by	Anderson Dawson
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Bundamba
In office 12 May 1888 – 13 May 1893
Preceded by	James Foote
Succeeded by	Lewis Thomas
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Burke
In office 16 June 1894 – 21 March 1896
Preceded by	John Hoolan
Succeeded by	John Hoolan
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Bundaberg
In office 21 March 1896 – 22 June 1901
Preceded by	Michael Duffy
Succeeded by	George Barber
Personal details
Born	(1844-02-26)26 February 1844 Markethill, Armagh, Ireland
Died	28 September 1936(1936-09-28) (aged 92) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Resting place	Toowong Cemetery
Political party	Protectionist Party
Other political affiliations	Labour Party
Spouse	Margaret Fergeson White (m.1864 d.1899)
Occupation	Miner

Born in Markethill, County Armagh, he received no formal education, working as a mill-worker and miner in Scotland and England. He migrated to Australia around 1885, when he became a miner at Bundamba, and was Secretary of the Bundamba Miners Association. He was a founding member of the Australian Labor Party in Queensland, and was the first Labor member of any Australian parliament when he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in 1888 as the member for Bundamba.[1][2]

Defeated in 1893, he was subsequently member for Burke from 1894 to 1896 and Bundaberg from 1896 to 1900.[2] He left the Labor Party in 1899 over the party's socialist objective. In 1901, he was elected to the Australian Senate for Queensland,[3] unofficially as a Protectionist (though there was no protectionist organisation in Queensland at the time). In 1903, the National Liberal Union endorsed non-Labor candidates, and Glassey, as a Deakinite, did not receive endorsement. He contested the Senate as an independent protectionist and received 25.6% of the vote, but was not elected.[4]

Glassey died in 1936 and was buried in Toowong Cemetery.[5]