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Harold Thomas (Tom) Scattergood (1893–1971)

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Tom Scattergood, c.1914

Tom Scattergood, c.1914

State Library of South Australia, b291836620

Harold Thomas (Tom) Scattergood (1893-1971) carpenter and joiner and trade union official

Birth: 16 May 1893 at Sheffield, England, son of Henry (Harry) Scattergood (1893-1971) and Emily, née Firth (1852-1898). Marriage: 3 April 1918 at St John’s parish church, Perry Barr, Birmingham, England to Beatrice Ellen Hardy (1890-1966), born at Elton, Yorkshire, England. They had one daughter and one son. Death: 10 July 1971 at Norwood, Adelaide, South Australia; usual residence Clayton Church Homes, Norwood. Religion: Anglican. 

  • In 1911 England census, he was living at Aftercliffe, Sheffield, Yorkshire West-Riding. His father was a widowed engine driver with the Midland Railway company; Tom worked as a machinist with a cabinet manufacturer. He arrived in South Australia with his older brother William aboard the Orvieto on 17 May 1913.
  • A locomotive cleaner, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 11 September 1914, served with the 16th Battalion on Gallipoli and was wounded in action on 6 May 1915. He returned to Australia in November 1915 having lost a finger and was discharged medically unfit at Adelaide on 13 March 1916.
  • Was a farm hand at South Australia, when he re-enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 12 April 1917. Served in France as a gunner and driver with the 31st Battery, 8th Australian Field Artillery Brigade. Also served in the Australian Provost Corps as a driver in England from December 1918. Spent some time in hospital with influenza. In August 1919 he was granted indefinite leave while awaiting a family passage to Australia. He and his wife embarked on 16 April 1920 and he was discharged in Adelaide on 17 July that year.
  • Appointed temporary organiser for the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters & Joiners (ASC&J), Port Pirie branch, SA, in 1936 for six months. Re-elected organiser, retaining the post until becoming State secretary in 1942.
  • Joint secretary of the ASC&J–Building Workers’ Industrial Union, SA, from 1942 to 1960 — with BWIU deregistered in 1948; secretary of breakaway ASC&J SA from 1952. Resigned in 1960.
  • May have belonged to a Grouper union.
  • Retired for some years. Cause of death: carcinoma of prostate (4 years), myocardial degeneration (years) and atherosclerosis.

Sources
Carpenters and Joiners News, December 1982.

Additional Resources and Scholarship

Citation details

'Scattergood, Harold Thomas (Tom) (1893–1971)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/scattergood-harold-thomas-tom-34997/text44117, accessed 2 June 2025.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Tom Scattergood, c.1914

Tom Scattergood, c.1914

State Library of South Australia, b291836620

Life Summary [details]

Birth

16 May, 1893
Sheffield, Yorkshire, England

Death

10 July, 1971 (aged 78)
Norwood, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Cause of Death

cancer (prostate)

Cultural Heritage

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