People Australia

Thomas Young (1858?-1936) iron moulder and trade union official 

Birth: possibly on 15 March 1858 at Melbourne West, Victoria, son of Thomas Young, blacksmith, and Mary, née Mellew. Marriages: (1) 1885 at Ballarat, Victoria, to Marian or Marion Anderson. They had a daughter who died in infancy and a son. He was widowed in 1889. (2) 23 December 1899 at “Our Father’s Church”, Carlton, Victoria, to native-born Elizabeth (Eliza), née Barber, late Parnell (1869-1944) a widow with two young children. Death: 17 July 1936 in his home at Jellicoe Street, Cheltenham, Victoria. 

• One of the first members of moulder's union in about 1877.
• Elected district secretary of the Iron Brass and Steel Moulders’ Union (later Federated Moulders’ Union) in 1902. Member of the Iron Moulders Wage Board from 1905 to 1910.
• Union members presented him with £98 on his retirement in 1927.
• Cause of death: senility, myocardial degeneration and heart failure. Age on death certificate and tombstone given as 82.
• At the unveiling of a portrait to him in 1937 the president W. Miller reported that during his more than twenty years in office “the union could not then afford to pay a full-time secretary, and all Mr Young’s work had to be carried out after he left the foundry.”

Sources
Federated Moulder, Victorian Report, October 1927, p 17.