Thomas Lavelle

Thomas James Lavelle (2 December 1887 – 24 May 1944) was an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1919 to 1922, representing the electorate of Calare.

Thomas Lavelle
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Calare
In office
13 December 1919 – 16 December 1922
Preceded byHenry Pigott
Succeeded byNeville Howse
Personal details
Born(1887-12-02)2 December 1887
Liverpool, New South Wales
Died24 May 1944(1944-05-24) (aged 56)
NationalityAustralian
Political partyAustralian Labor Party
OccupationUnionist

Lavelle was born into a farming family in the Cowra district. His father died when he was aged 18, leaving him to support his mother and six younger siblings. He worked the family farm successfully while also taking on work as a shearer and bush worker to supplement the income from the farm. He also worked as an organiser for the Australian Workers' Union for several years. He campaigned against conscription during the 1916 and 1917 referendums and was the unsuccessful Labor candidate for Calare at the 1917 election. He sold the farm and moved to Sydney when he was 32, around the time of his election to parliament.[1][2][3][4][5]

In 1919, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Calare, defeating Nationalist MP Henry Pigott. He only served one term when before his defeat by Nationalist Neville Howse at the 1922 election. During the 1922 campaign, he was slated for his parliamentary attendance during the previous term, with reports that he had only attended 9 out of 63 sittings, the equal lowest for an MP in the House.[6][7] Following his parliamentary defeat, he worked as a land and estate agent in Sydney.[8]

During the 1930s, he was the proprietor of Scott's Hotel at Wagga Wagga, then the Club House Hotel at Gundagai and then later of McQuillans Hotel at Bankstown. He also served as president of the Federated Railway Leagues Council.[9][10] He was the Labor candidate at the 1930 state election, but then served as a member of the state executive of the Federal Labor Party in the wake of the 1931 Labor split, which saw most of the state branch break away as Lang Labor. He was an unsuccessful Federal Labor candidate at the 1932 and 1935 state elections and 1934 federal election. In 1940, during the second Lang Labor split, he was campaign director for the official Labor campaign against prominent Lang Labor MP Jack Beasley.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]

He died in Sydney in 1944.[19] He married Margaret Ann HILDEBRAND in 1920; she predeceased him 10 December 1936. They had five children.[20][21]

References
  1. "New Federal Members". The Yass Courier. New South Wales, Australia. 18 December 1919. p. 6. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  2. "LABOR CAMPAIGN". Daily Advertiser. New South Wales, Australia. 17 October 1930. p. 5. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  3. "STATE ELECTIONS". The Daily Express. New South Wales, Australia. 22 March 1930. p. 2. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  4. "A BLAKELEY". The Australian Worker. New South Wales, Australia. 22 November 1922. p. 9. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  5. "People in the News". Westralian Worker. Western Australia. 16 January 1920. p. 1. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  6. "CALARE ELECTORATE". Leader. New South Wales, Australia. 3 January 1923. p. 2. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  7. "FEDERAL POLITICS". Daily Examiner. New South Wales, Australia. 28 October 1922. p. 4. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  8. "GOSSIP". Freeman's Journal. New South Wales, Australia. 22 February 1923. p. 19. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  9. "OBITUARY". The Labor Daily. New South Wales, Australia. 11 December 1936. p. 6. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  10. "RAILWAY URGED". The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 20 January 1937. p. 14. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  11. "RESULT OF THE POLLS". Cairns Post. Queensland, Australia. 14 May 1935. p. 11. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  12. "North Sydney". The Sun. New South Wales, Australia. 4 May 1935. p. 3 (FINAL FOOTBALL LAST RACE). Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  13. "ENDORSEMENT BY U.A.P." The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 4 September 1940. p. 13. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  14. "LABOUR WINS WERRIWA". Goulburn Evening Penny Post. New South Wales, Australia. 24 September 1934. p. 3 (DAILY and EVENING). Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  15. "IN THE ELECTORATES". The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 27 May 1932. p. 10. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  16. "Corroboree At the Club House". The Gundagai Independent. New South Wales, Australia. 7 April 1932. p. 4. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  17. "HOTEL TRANSFER". Daily Advertiser. New South Wales, Australia. 3 April 1931. p. 4. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  18. "WAGGA ELECTORATE". Daily Advertiser. New South Wales, Australia. 7 November 1930. p. 5. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  19. "PERSONAL". The West Wyalong Advocate. New South Wales, Australia. 5 June 1944. p. 2. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  20. "The Molong Argus". Molong Argus. New South Wales, Australia. 21 May 1920. p. 2. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
  21. "OBITUARY". The Labor Daily. New South Wales, Australia. 11 December 1936. p. 6. Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Trove.
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