Thomas Ley
| Thomas Ley | |
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| Member of the Australian Parliament for Barton |
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In office 14 November 1925 – 17 November 1928 |
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| Preceded by | Frederick McDonald |
| Succeeded by | James Tully |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
28 October 1880 Bath, Somerset, England |
| Died | 29 July 1947 (aged 66) Broadmoor Asylum, England |
| Nationality | British subject (Australian) |
| Political party | Nationalist |
| Spouse(s) | Emily Louisa Vernon |
| Occupation | Solicitor |
Thomas John Ley (28 October 1880 – 29 July 1947) was an Australian politician who was convicted of murder in England. It is highly likely that he was also involved in the deaths of a number of people in Australia.
Ley was born in Bath, England, but his father died in 1882 and his mother brought him and three siblings to Australia in 1886. He attended Crown Street Public School in Sydney until he was ten; then he worked as an assistant in his mother's grocery store. Having learnt shorthand, he became a junior clerk-stenographer in a solicitor's office at 14. He married Emily Louisa (known as "Lewie") Vernon in 1898, the year she came to Australia from England. Both husband and wife were active in politics, she in the international suffrage movement, and he as a state (New South Wales) and federal politician from 1917 to 1928.
Ley served in the lower house of the New South Wales parliament (1917–25) as member for Hurstville from 1917 to 1920, representing the Nationalist Party of Australia, and St George from 1920 to 1925, representing the Progressive Party from 1920 to 1922. He was a prominent and vocal advocate of proportional representation, which the state adopted in 1919. Both his electorates were in Sydney's southern suburbs.
As a teetotaller, Ley acquired the nickname Lemonade Ley, but the temperance movement accused him of betrayal when he supported legislation which eased requirements for the sale of alcohol. It later became evident that he was being paid by the brewery lobby. Despite this, he was appointed as New South Wales Minister for Justice from 1922 to 1925—in the cabinet of Premier Sir George Fuller—and gained a reputation for harsh decisions.
Shortly after he became Minister for Justice, Ley made an official visit to Western Australia and there was introduced to Maggie Evelyn Brook, a magistrate's wife. Shortly afterwards the magistrate died; Ley acted for her and her daughter in various financial and legal matters.
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