Thomas Laidlaw (politician)

Thomas Laidlaw (23 September 1813 – 12 June 1876) was a Scottish-born Australian politician.

He was born at Melrose in Roxburghshire to merchant Alexander Laidlaw and Helen Cochrane. A banker, he migrated to Sydney in 1839 and settled at Yass, where he opened a general store. In 1841 he married Catherine Galvin; they had no children. In 1859 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Yass Plains, but he did not re-contest in 1860. In 1866 he sold his store, which had now expanded to include brewery and post office, and became a pastoralist. Laidlaw died at Yass in 1876.[1]