Thomas Llewellyn Jones ( 8 March 1872 – 18 June 1946) was a company director and member of both the

Queensland Legislative Council Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, ...

and

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly h ...

in Australia

Early life

Jones was born at

Welshpool Welshpool ( ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales, historically in the Historic counties of Wales, county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn. The c ...

in Montgomeryshire, Wales, to John Jones his wife Elizabeth (''née'' Llewellyn). He moved to

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

at a young age and attended Brisbane Normal and

Brisbane Grammar Brisbane Grammar School (BGS) is an independent, fee charging, non-denominational, day and boarding school for boys, located in Spring Hill, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is the second oldest secondary school in Queens ...

schools.

Political career

Jones, representing the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

, won the state seat of Oxley at the

1915 Queensland state election Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 22 May 1915 to elect the 72 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The election was the second for the Liberal government of Digby Denham, who had been premier since 7 Februar ...

, defeating the then premier of Queensland,

Digby Denham Digby Frank Denham (25 January 1859 – 10 May 1944) was a politician and businessman in Queensland, Australia. He was a Premier of Queensland and Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. He was the first of only two Queensland Premiers t ...

. He held the seat for one term before losing to Cecil Elphinstone in

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

. When the Labour Party starting forming governments in Queensland, it found much of its legislation being blocked by a hostile council, where members had been appointed for life by successive conservative governments. After a failed

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

in May 1917, The premier, Ryan, tried a new tactic, and later that year advised the governor, Sir Hamilton John Goold-Adams, to appoint 13 new members whose allegiance lay with Labour to the council. In August 1919, Jones was one of three additional new members, and sat for two and a half years until the council was abolished in March 1922.

Personal life

Jones was twice married, first to Amy Alice Lane in 1901 and together they had a son and daughter. Amy died in 1936,Family history research
–

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

Births, deaths, marriages, divorces. Retrieved 11 March 2015. and a year later he married Gwendolen Gee (died 1982). He was the chairman director of the provision merchants and commercial agents Foggitt, Jones & Co., a trustee of the Brisbane Grammar School, a senate member of the

Queensland University The University of Queensland is a public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone universities, an i ...

, chairman of the Brisbane Hospital Board and

commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (India), in India ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ' ...

of the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. Jones died in Brisbane in June 1946 and was cremated at

Mount Thompson crematorium Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens and Crematorium (formerly Brisbane Crematorium) includes a heritage-listed chapel (the West Chapel), columbaria and other features. It is located on north-western slopes of Mount Thompson (Queensland), Mount Thomp ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Thomas Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Members of the Queensland Legislative Council 1872 births 1946 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland People from Welshpool People educated at Brisbane Grammar School