William Henry Groom

William Henry Groom
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1833 – 1901

Born9 March 1833 in Plymouth, Devon, EnglandDied8 August 1901 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, aged 68

Bought a share in the Toowoomba Chronicle in 1874 and was its sole proprietor from 1876 to 1901, making it the most powerful newspaper on the Darling Downs.

Degrees

Family

Spouse

? Unknown spouse m. 16 March 1859

Children

EG Ernest Lyttleton Groom 1863–1864 LG Littleton Ernest Groom 1867–1936

Places 15 locations

BirthOtherMigrationWorkDeath / burialEducation

Timeline

1830s
Born 9 March 1833

Plymouth, Devon, England
0
Baptised 7 April 1833

Plymouth, Devon, England

Baptised at Plymouth, England, son of Thomas Groom, cordwainer, and his wife Maria, nee Harkcom.

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1840s
13
Conviction and Sentence of Transportation 26 October 1846

Plymouth, Devon, England

Convicted of stealing and sentenced at the Plymouth Quarter Sessions to seven years' transportation.

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16
Immigrated (Transported convict, Hashemy) 8 June 1849

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Sent from Pentonville prison to New South Wales as a transported convict and landed at Sydney in the Hashemy on 8 June 1849.

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16
Conditional Pardon October 1849

Conditionally pardoned in October 1849, some four months after landing, and afterwards worked near Bathurst, New South Wales.

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1850s
23
Occupation (Storekeeper and Auctioneer) from August 1856

Drayton, Queensland, Australia

Migrated to Queensland and in August 1856 set up as a store-keeper and auctioneer at Drayton on the Darling Downs, financed by a Cornishman, John Thomas Littleton, whose sister Grace he married in 1859.

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26
Married spouse not recorded 16 March 1859

Marriage of William Henry Groom and Grace Littleton, sister of the Cornishman John Thomas Littleton who had financed Groom's Drayton store. Neither the Queensland marriage index nor the parliamentary register states the place, so none is linked.

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1860s
28
Alderman, Borough of Toowoomba 1861–1901

Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

Served as an alderman of Toowoomba continuously from 1861 until his death in 1901.

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28
Mayor of Toowoomba 1861–1863

Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

Toowoomba's first mayor, from 1861 to 1863, and re-elected to the office in 1864, 1867, 1883 and 1884; he held the mayoralty five times in all. During his first term he led the council in petitioning the colonial government for land for a town hall, a municipal market and the original site of Queens Park.

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29
Member for Drayton and Toowoomba, Queensland Legislative Assembly from 11 August 1862 to 10 November 1873

Queensland, Australia

Won a by-election for Drayton and Toowoomba in the Queensland Legislative Assembly on 11 August 1862 and represented the seat until 10 November 1873. Apart from an interlude in 1866 he held a seat in the Assembly continuously from 1862 until his election to the federal Parliament in 1901.

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30
Birth of son Ernest Lyttleton Groom 14 September 1863

Queensland, Australia
31
Death of son Ernest Lyttleton Groom 8 September 1864

Queensland, Australiainfant
34
Birth of son Littleton Ernest Groom 22 April 1867

Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
1870s
40
Member for Toowoomba, Queensland Legislative Assembly from 10 November 1873 to 15 November 1878

Queensland, Australia

Represented the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Toowoomba from 10 November 1873 to 15 November 1878.

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41
Occupation (Proprietor, The Toowoomba Chronicle) 1874–1901

Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

Bought a share in the Toowoomba Chronicle in 1874 and was its sole proprietor from 1876 to 1901, making it the most powerful newspaper on the Darling Downs.

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45
Member for Drayton and Toowoomba, Queensland Legislative Assembly from 15 November 1878 to 4 June 1901

Queensland, Australia

Represented the restored Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Drayton and Toowoomba from 15 November 1878 until 4 June 1901, when he left colonial politics for the federal Parliament.

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1880s
50
Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 7 November 1883 to 4 April 1888

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 7 November 1883 to 4 April 1888. He held no executive office in the colony; his main contributions were his agrarian radicalism and his membership of the royal commissions on the sugar industry in 1889 and on crown lands in 1897.

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1900s
67
Member for Darling Downs, Australian House of Representatives from March 1901 to 8 August 1901

Queensland, Australia

Stood successfully as a Protectionist for the seat of Darling Downs in the House of Representatives at the first federal election in March 1901, becoming the only transported convict to sit as a member of the Australian Parliament. He was invited to speak first in the Address-in-Reply to the Governor-General on the first day of sitting, and died in August of the same year, the first member of the federal Parliament to die in office.

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Undated
Education (St Andrew's School, Plymouth)

Plymouth, Devon, England

Educated at St Andrew's School, Plymouth, and afterwards apprenticed to a baker.

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1900s
68
Died 8 August 1901

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
68
Buried after 8 August 1901

His body was returned from Melbourne to Queensland and buried in the Anglican section of the Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery. No place row exists for this cemetery, so none is linked.

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