# William Henry Groom

William Henry Groom (9 MAR 1833 – 8 AUG 1901); born in Plymouth, Devon, England; parent of 2 children; died in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

**Lifespan:** 9 MAR 1833 – 8 AUG 1901

## Spouses
- _unknown partner_ — m. 16 MAR 1859

## Children
- [Ernest Lyttleton Groom](/p/ernest-lyttleton-groom-49784.md)
- [Littleton Ernest Groom](/p/littleton-ernest-groom-49789.md)

## Timeline
- 9 MAR 1833 — **Born** at Plymouth, Devon, England
- 7 APR 1833 — **Baptised** at Plymouth, Devon, England — Baptised at Plymouth, England, son of Thomas Groom, cordwainer, and his wife Maria, nee Harkcom.
- 26 OCT 1846 — **Conviction and Sentence of Transportation** at Plymouth, Devon, England — Convicted of stealing and sentenced at the Plymouth Quarter Sessions to seven years' transportation.
- 8 JUN 1849 — **Immigrated (Transported convict, Hashemy)** at 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.
- OCT 1849 — **Conditional Pardon** — Conditionally pardoned in October 1849, some four months after landing, and afterwards worked near Bathurst, New South Wales.
- FROM AUG 1856 — **Occupation (Storekeeper and Auctioneer)** at 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.
- FROM 1861 TO 1901 — **Alderman, Borough of Toowoomba** at Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia — Served as an alderman of Toowoomba continuously from 1861 until his death in 1901.
- FROM 1861 TO 1863 — **Mayor of Toowoomba** at 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.
- FROM 11 AUG 1862 TO 10 NOV 1873 — **Member for Drayton and Toowoomba, Queensland Legislative Assembly** at 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.
- FROM 10 NOV 1873 TO 15 NOV 1878 — **Member for Toowoomba, Queensland Legislative Assembly** at Queensland, Australia — Represented the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Toowoomba from 10 November 1873 to 15 November 1878.
- FROM 1874 TO 1901 — **Occupation (Proprietor, The Toowoomba Chronicle)** at 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.
- FROM 15 NOV 1878 TO 4 JUN 1901 — **Member for Drayton and Toowoomba, Queensland Legislative Assembly** at 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.
- FROM 7 NOV 1883 TO 4 APR 1888 — **Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly** at 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.
- FROM MAR 1901 TO 8 AUG 1901 — **Member for Darling Downs, Australian House of Representatives** at 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.
- 8 AUG 1901 — **Died** at Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- AFT 8 AUG 1901 — **Buried** — 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.
- **Education (St Andrew's School, Plymouth)** at Plymouth, Devon, England — Educated at St Andrew's School, Plymouth, and afterwards apprenticed to a baker.

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