Thomas Moles

Thomas Moles
Thomas Moles
	Moles in 1923
Member of Parliament; for Belfast South
	In office; 15 November 1922 – 30 May 1929
Preceded by	William Arthur Lindsay (1918) ; Constituency recreated
Succeeded by	William Stewart
Personal details
Born	13 November 1871; Belfast, Ireland
Died	3 February 1937 (aged 65)
Nationality	British
Political party	Ulster Unionist Party
Profession	Journalist

Thomas Moles (13 November 1871 – 3 February 1937) was a journalist and Ulster Unionist politician.

Life[edit]

Born in Belfast in 1871, Moles was the son of Edward Moles and Margaret née Carson and was educated at the Collegiate School, Ballymena. A journalist by profession, he was Leader Writer for the Belfast Telegraph from 1909 until 1924 and managing editor for that newspaper from 1924.^[1]

Moles was an Irish representative on the British press visit to Canada in 1911. He was a member of the Secretariat to the Irish Convention from 1917 to 1918.

Moles was MP for Belfast Ormeau 1918–1922 and Belfast South at Westminster from 1922 until he retired in 1929.

He was also an MP in the Northern Ireland House of Commons from 1921 to 1929 for South Belfast and for Belfast, Ballynafeigh from 1929 to his death in 1937.^[1] He was the first ever member declared elected to the Northern Ireland House of Commons. He was Chairman of the Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland House of Commons from 7 June 1921 until his death; and Member of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland in 1923.

Moles was married in Ramoan, Co Antrim on 20 March 1901 to Charlotte Brannigan and had three children. He was also a motorcycle enthusiast and helped to push through parliament the first Road Races Act, which made it legal for the roads on the Clady Course to be closed for the first Ulster Grand Prix motorcycle road race on 14 October 1922.^[2]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b Harbinson, John F. (1973). The Ulster Unionist Party, 1882–1973. Belfast: Blackstaff Press. p. 181. ISBN 0856400769.
^ Eddie McIlwaine (17 August 2008). "10 things you didn't know about the big event". Belfast Telegraph. p. 15.

External links[edit]

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Thomas Moles
"Moles, Thomas" . Thom's Irish Who's Who . Dublin: Alexander Thom and Son Ltd. 1923. p. 166 – via Wikisource.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Belfast Ormeau 1918–1922	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Belfast South 1922–1929	Succeeded by William Stewart
Parliament of Northern Ireland
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Belfast South 1921–1929 With: Hugh Pollock 1921–1929 Julia McMordie 1921–1925 Crawford McCullagh 1921–1925 Arthur Black 1925–1929 Philip James Woods 1925 Anthony Babington 1925–1929	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Belfast, Ballynafeigh 1929–1937	Succeeded by Frederick Thompson
Political offices
New office	Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland House of Commons 1921–1937	Succeeded by John Clarke Davison

[Harbinson-1] Harbinson, John F. (1973). The Ulster Unionist Party, 1882–1973. Belfast: Blackstaff Press. p. 181. ISBN 0856400769.

[2] Eddie McIlwaine (17 August 2008). "10 things you didn't know about the big event". Belfast Telegraph. p. 15.

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