Thomas Simpson Crawford

Thomas Simpson Crawford QC, (21 December 1875 – 20 April 1976) was an Australian politician and New South Wales Senior Crown Prosecutor.

Born and raised in Bulli, New South Wales, the son of a miner, Crawford left school at age 14 to work first as a clerk in the New South Wales railways department and later as a telegraph operator. In 1894, he decided to enter the Presbyterian ministry, and thus resumed his studies under the guidance of his former headmaster and tutor in classics, Joseph Bourke. Crawford later went to Sydney Boys' High School and the Cooerwull Academy at Bowenfels, and eventually graduated from the University of Sydney with a BA and MA. Ordained a Minister in 1902, Crawford was based in Newcastle and Campsie before he had a calling of a different kind and resigned from the ministry to enter politics.

Crawford contested the federal Division of Lang for the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at the 1910 election, gaining a swing of 19.4% but failing to be elected. He had more luck at the New South Wales state election later that year, winning the Electoral district of Marrickville. Crawford served in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1910 to 1917, firstly as an ALP representative before leaving Labor with other pro-conscriptionists to join the Nationalist Party of Australia. Crawford was defeated at the 1917 election by his Labor opponent.

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