Dugald Thomson was an Australian politician.

Thomson was born in Camberwell

Camberwell

Camberwell is a district of south London, England, and forms part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is a built-up inner city district located southeast of Charing Cross. To the west it has a boundary with the London Borough of Lambeth.-Toponymy:...

, London in 1849 and his family migrated to South Australia in 1850 and later moved to Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

. He completed his education in England and spent some time in his uncle's Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 business. After spending two years as a sailor, he returned to Melbourne when he was 19. In 1877, he established the Sydney branch of the merchant firm Robert Harper & Co., which he managed until 1892, when he was forced to retire due to injury.

Political career

Thomson won the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 seat of Warringah

Electoral district of Warringah

Warringah was a former electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, created in 1894, partly replacing St Leonards, and named after and including the Warringah region of the northeastern suburbs of Sydney. It was abolished in 1904 and partly replaced by...

 in 1894 and supported the Free Trade

Free Trade Party

The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states and renamed the Anti-Socialist Party in 1906, was an Australian political party, formally organised between 1889 and 1909...

 ministry of George Reid

George Reid (Australian politician)

Sir George Houstoun Reid, GCB, GCMG, KC was an Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales and the fourth Prime Minister of Australia....

, although he opposed its legislation on workplace conditions, made necessary by its dependence on Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 support.

Thomson was a supporter of federation

Federation of Australia

The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation...

 and won the House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 seat of North Sydney

Division of North Sydney

The Division of North Sydney is an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division is named after the North Sydney area where it is located. It was proclaimed in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election...

 at the 1901 election and held it to his retirement prior to the 1910 election

Australian federal election, 1910

Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 April 1910. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

. He was Minister for Home Affairs

Minister for Home Affairs (Australia)

The Australian Minister for Home Affairs has been Brendan O'Connor since 6 June 2009. The Home Affairs portfolio brings together agencies such as the Australian Customs Service , the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, which were previously the...

 from 1904 to 1905 in the Reid Ministry

Reid Ministry

The Reid Ministry was the fourth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 18 August 1904 to 5 July 1905.Free Trade PartyMcLean, Turner, McCay and Drake were conservative Protectionist Party members. Their acceptance of office in Reid's ministry, although it had Alfred Deakin's tacit approval,...

. During his period in parliament he spoke often on maritime matters.

Thomson died in the Sydney suburb of Kirribilli

Kirribilli, New South Wales

Kirribilli is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located three kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area administered by North Sydney Council...

, unmarried.