Thomas Reynolds (1818 – 25 February 1875) was the fifth Premier of South Australia

Premiers of South Australia

Before the 1890s when there was no formal party system in South Australia, MPs tended to have historical liberal or conservative beliefs. The liberals dominated government from 1893 to 1905 with Labor support, with the conservatives mostly in opposition. Labor took government with the support of...

, serving from 9 May 1860 to 8 October 1861.

He was born in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1818, and on leaving school had experience in the grocery business. He came to South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

 in 1840 as an early colonist at the invitation of his brother, who had a draper

Draper

Draper is the now largely obsolete term for a wholesaler, or especially retailer, of cloth, mainly for clothing, or one who works in a draper's shop. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. The drapers were an important trade guild...

's shop at Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

. The brother had died by the time Thomas Reynolds arrived and he soon opened a grocer's shop, was successful for a time, but like many others fell into financial difficulties when the gold rush

Gold rush

A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...

 began.

He became an alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 in the Adelaide City Council in 1854, succeeding William Paxton

William Paxton (Australian businessman)

William Paxton was a South Australian colonist who arrived in 1840, became one of the investors in the Burra copper mines and returned to England in July 1855, a wealthy man....

, but a few months afterwards resigned to enter the South Australian Legislative Council

South Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the House of Assembly...

. In 1857 he was elected for Sturt in the first South Australian House of Assembly

South Australian House of Assembly

The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...

. From September 1857 to June 1858 he was commissioner of public works in the Hanson

Richard Hanson (Australian politician)

Sir Richard Davies Hanson , was the fourth Premier of South Australia, from 30 September 1857 until 8 May 1860, and was a Chief Judge from 20 November 1861 until 4 March 1876 on the Supreme Court of South Australia, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of South...

 ministry, and in May 1860 he became premier and treasurer.

The next year his ministry was reconstructed and he resigned as premier on 8 October 1861. He was treasurer in the second Waterhouse ministry from October 1861 to February 1862, and in the second Dutton

Francis Dutton

Francis Stacker Dutton CMG was the seventh Premier of South Australia, serving twice, firstly in 1863 and again in 1865....

 ministry from March to September 1865. He held the same position in the fourth and fifth Ayers

Henry Ayers

Sir Henry Ayers GCMG was Premier of South Australia five times between 1863 and 1873, but is perhaps best remembered for having Uluru/Ayers Rock named for him.- Overview :...

 ministries from May 1867 to September 1868 and from October to November 1868. He was commissioner of crown lands in the seventh Ayers ministry from March 1872 to July 1873.

Some years earlier his interest in the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

 had been stimulated by reports from his nephew, Frederick Henry Litchfield

Frederick Henry Litchfield

Frederick Henry Litchfield , pastoralist, gold miner, explorer, usually known as Fred, is a South Australian prominently associated with the early exploration of the Northern Territory, and more particularly with the discovery of gold there.-Early life:Litchfield was born in Ghazipur, British...

. Early in 1873 he visited Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...

 where there was a gold-rush, and found matters completely disorganized. Many of the official staff had not only taken up claims but had been allowed leave of absence to look after their mines. Reynolds did his best to restore order and returned to Adelaide where he reported favourably on the mineral resources of the north. Not finding himself in agreement with his colleagues in the ministry he retired from parliament and went to Darwin. He was not successful there, and was returning to Adelaide on the SS Gothenburg

SS Gothenburg

The SS Gothenburg was a steamship that operated along the British and then later the Australian and New Zealand coastlines. In February 1875, she left Darwin, Australia en route to Adelaide when she encountered a cyclone-strength storm off the north Queensland coast. The ship was wrecked on the...

 which was wrecked in a tropical cyclone

Tropical cyclone

A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones strengthen when water evaporated from the ocean is released as the saturated air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor...

 near the Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...

 on 24 February 1875, and he was drowned. He was married to Anne Litchfield, who lost her life in the same shipwreck. He was survived by two sons.

Reynolds was a shrewd business man, a hard worker, and a good treasurer, but was of too sanguine and fiery a temperament to be a politician of the first rank. He was a pioneer in jam-making and raisin

Raisin

Raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...

-curing in South Australia, but his devotion to his parliamentary duties led sometimes to the neglect of his own financial interests. He was also a leader in the total abstinence

Temperance movement

A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...

 movement in Adelaide.

External links

• The South Australian Register and The South Australian Advertiser, 8 March 1875; E. Hodder, The History of South Australia; P. Mennell, The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.
• SA Parliament profile