Thomas Maltby

Sir Thomas Maltby
Thomas Maltby as a Lieutenant in the Australian Army prior to his embarkation to Egypt, August 1915
21st Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
In office 2 December 1947 – 12 April 1950
Preceded by	Sir George Knox
Succeeded by	Archie Michaelis
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Barwon
In office 6 July 1929 – 22 April 1955
Preceded by	Edward Morley
Succeeded by	District abolished
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Geelong
In office 28 May 1955 – 1 June 1961
Preceded by	James Dunn
Succeeded by	Hayden Birrell
Personal details
Born	Thomas Karran Maltby (1890-10-17)17 October 1890 Barnadown, Victoria
Died	2 June 1976(1976-06-02) (aged 85) Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Political party	Liberal and Country Party
Other political affiliations	Nationalist Party United Australia Party Liberal Party Independent
Spouse(s)	Eliza Margaret McDonald (m. 1913)
Religion	Presbyterian
Awards	Mentioned in Despatches (1918)
Military service
Allegiance	Australia
Service/branch	Australian Army
Years of service	1915–1919, 1940–1943
Rank	Major
Unit	5th Battalion

Major Sir Thomas Karran Maltby (17 October 1890 – 2 June 1976) was a politician in Victoria, Australia. He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for nearly 32 years from 1929 to 1961, served in several ministries and was Speaker of the assembly from 1947 to 1950.

Matlby was born in Barnadown, a small town near Bendigo, Victoria, to Thomas Karran Maltby (a shopkeeper from the Isle of Man) and Ada Agnes Fascher. His father died in 1893, and his mother remarried the following year. Maltby was educated at Camp Hill Central School, but left school aged 11 to work as a newsboy and shop messenger. He attended the Bendigo School of Mines at night, studying to receive an engineer's certificate, while working as a battery boy and later trucker in the Bendigo gold mines.

Around 1909, Maltby moved to Melbourne where he worked as a labourer on the Melbourne Tramways. He later joined the sugar refinery CSR as an engine driver and clerk. In 1911, he joined the Militia (citizen army reserve) and received a commission the next year. In 1913, he married Eliza McDonald, a typist, at the Presbyterian Church in Yarraville.

Already an officer of the citizens' militia, Maltby was appointed as a lieutenant in the First Australian Imperial Force on 16 May 1915. He embarked for Egypt in September that year, and by March 1916 was fighting on the Western Front with the Australian 5th Battalion. His 11-month-old daughter, Margaret, died of pneumonia on 30 March 1916, while Maltby was serving overseas.

Maltby was wounded twice during the war, once when a bolt from an exploding rifle entered his arm in April 1917. He was mentioned in dispatches before returning to Australia in 1919.