Thomas Workman was a Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 businessman and political figure. He represented Montreal Centre

Montreal Centre

Montreal Centre was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1892.It was created by the British North America Act of 1867. It consisted initially of the West Ward, the Centre Ward and the East Ward of the city of Montreal....

 in the 1st Canadian Parliament

1st Canadian Parliament

The 1st Canadian Parliament was in session from November 6, 1867 until July 8, 1872. The membership was set by the 1867 federal election from August 7 to September 20, 1867, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was prorogued prior to the 1872 election.It was...

 and Montreal West

Montreal West (electoral district)

Montreal West was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commonsfrom 1867 to 1892.It was created by the British North America Act of 1867. It consisted initially of St. Anne Ward, St. Antoine Ward and St. Lawrence Ward. In 1872, St. Anne Ward...

 from 1875 to 1878 as a Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 member.

He was born in Ballymacash, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 in 1813 and came to Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, where his brothers had already settled, in 1827. In 1834, he was hired as a clerk in a hardware company operated by John Frothingham and his brother William

William Workman

William Workman was an Irish-born Canadian businessman and municipal politician.- Biography :Workman migrated to Montreal, Quebec in 1829....

; he became a partner in 1843 and sole owner in 1859. He also served as president of the Molson Bank

Molson Bank

The Molson Bank was a Canadian bank founded in Montreal, Quebec, by brothers William and John Molson, Jr...

 and a director of the Sun Mutual Life Insurance Company in Montreal, serving as president from 1871 to 1889. He served as a volunteer to help put down the Lower Canada Rebellion

Lower Canada Rebellion

The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...

. In 1866, he was named justice of the peace. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1867, but did not run again until an 1875 by-election in Montreal West after the sitting member was unseated.

He died from diabetes in Montreal in 1889. He had supported McGill College

McGill University

Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

during his life and left a large sum from his estate to the college and other charities.