Thomas Sutherst was born in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England, in 1851, the son of John and Sarah Sutherst (née Longtoft). His father operated a small iron foundry and Thomas was the eldest of four known children in the family.
He was a qualified barrister, having studied law at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and later at the Inner Temple, before being called to the bar on the 26th January 1877. He attached himself to the north-eastern circuit.
On the 19th June 1880, he married Ethel Eugenie Taylor in Thrapston, Northamptonshire, and the couple had two children – Gwladys Ethel Gwendolen Eugenie, born in 1882, and Marjorie “May” Evelyn, born in 1887. The family resided at 107. Lansdowne Road, Hove, Sussex, and later at 83. Gloucester Place, Marylebone, London.
Thomas Sutherst became well-known as a champion for workers’ rights. In 1882, the secretary of the Shop Assistants’ Association approached him about the unnatural conditions of shop labour. Thomas championed their cause and became one of the founders of the Shop Hours Labour League, and was elected as the first president of the organisation. In May 1884, he published a book entitled, Death and Disease Behind the Counter, which detailed the long, unhealthy and exhausting conditions of shop workers. Even though this work is over a century old, it is still referenced today.
In 1889, with the help of the London Trades Council, he brought together between 2,000 and 3,000 tram workers in London and established The London County Tramway & Omnibus Employees Union. The union campaigned for better pay and conditions, and in July 1891, held the first general strike by London bus and tram workers. After a week of negotiating with the owners of the three London companies, a deal involving better pay and conditions was agreed and the workers returned to work.
Thomas Sutherst contested two general elections as a candidate for the Liberal Party in West Toxteth, Liverpool, in 1885, and in Grimsby in 1886. He failed to get elected on both occasions, and in 1890, he offered himself as a candidate in Doncaster, but was not selected to run by the party.
He also involved himself in underwriting and financial dealing, specifically promoting companies and syndicates on the African continent; however, he was declared bankrupt on a number of occasions and at one time owed creditors over £250,000!
In 1905 he had persuaded the Marquis Townsend to marry his eldest daughter, Gwladys, promising to pay off the Marquis’ substantial debts, but in reality did not have the capital to do so. Six months after their wedding he brought proceedings to have his son-in-law declared of “unsound mind”, and had him committed to the care of his young wife.
Following these proceedings, a committee of Benchers at the Inner Temple began an investigation into Thomas Sutherst’s affair, and after two years, in April 1908, they deemed him unworthy to be a barrister and had him disbarred. His name was struck from the books of Temple Inn in May 1908.
In the years that followed, it appears that Mr. Sutherst suffered from ill-health, and towards the end of 1914, he decided to travel as he believed it would improve his health. In February 1915, he arrived in Sydney, Australia, and on the 18th March, he left there on the s.s. Niagara to begin his journey back to his home in London.
On disembarking in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, he travelled by rail to New
York City in the United States of America, as he had pre-booked trans-Atlantic second cabin passage with The Cunard Steam Ship Company, and arriving at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York, harbour, on the morning of 1st May 1915, he boarded the Lusitania for her scheduled 10 a.m. sailing for Liverpool.
This sailing was then delayed until the afternoon, however, as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from Anchor Liner, the S.S. Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work as a troop ship, at the end of April. The Lusitania finally left port just after mid-day and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May; she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 off the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her destination.
Thomas Smethurst was killed as a result of this action and as his body was not recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, he has no know grave. He was aged 64 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1861 Census of England & Wales, 1871 Census of England & Wales, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, Cunard Records, The Bulletin, Falkirk Herald, Lakes Herald, Reynold’s Newspaper, Sheffield Independent, St. Andrew’s Citizen, Yarmouth Independent, Yorkshire Evening Post, Death and Disease Behind the Counter, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Lawrence Evans, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.