Thomas English (mayor)

Thomas English was born on 9 July 1820{{cite SA-parl |pid=3925 |name=Mr Thomas English |former=yes |access-date=19 August 2022}} in Maryport, Cumberland, England. His father, who had fought in the Peninsular War against Napoleon, died when Thomas was three.

He left England with his wife Margaret, and her brother Henry Brown, a builder, bound for the colony of South Australia. They arrived in Adelaide on 11 January 1850 on the barque Richardson,{{cite news |newspaper=South Australian Register |date=20 December 1884 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43808695 |title=Obituary. Death of the Hon. Thomas English}} which was under the command of English's brother James.

English was Mayor of Adelaide from 1862 to 1863.

He was Minister of Works, South Australia, and a member of the South Australian Legislative Council from 1 March 1865 to 1 August 1878 and from 29 May 1882 till his death, and was Commissioner of Public Works in the John Hart Government from 23 October 1865 to March 1966,{{cite Australasia|English, Hon. Thomas}} and in the James Boucaut Ministry from the latter date till 3 May 1867.

English was for a time partner with brother-in-law Brown (28 August 1820 – 30 May 1881) in the building firm of English & Brown, (later Brown & Thompson), who developed the Glen Ewin quarry,{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28796163 |title=Glen Ewin Quarry |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |location=South Australia |date=29 March 1867 |access-date=30 October 2018 |page=2 |via=Trove}} the source of freestone for many of Adelaide's public buildings. They were first on Carrington Street, and later (1859) in Waymouth Street. Their partnership was dissolved when English was elected to parliament in 1865.

From 1865 until mid-February 1870, English practised as an architect on his own. From 19 February 1870 until 1873, he was in partnership with Rowland Rees, as English & Rees, Civil Engineers, Architects and Surveyors, of Temple Chambers, Currie Street. He then practised solo again until 1880.

George Klewitz Soward served his papers with English, then joined him in partnership in 1880 as English & Soward at Albion Chambers, Waymouth Street, and then Barnard Chambers in Currie Street, both in Adelaide city centre. English worked in the partnership until his death in 1884, when his son, Joseph Wallace English, who had also been articled to the firm, was made a partner. This partnership continued until Joseph's death in 1927.

English's work as architect included the new Kent Town Brewery buildings at the corner of Rundle Street and Dequetteville Terrace, Kent Town, completed in 1876{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224357808 |title=The Kent Town Brewery |newspaper=The Illustrated Adelaide News |volume=II |issue=21 |location=South Australia |date=1 July 1876 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} for E. T. Smith.{{cite web | website=Architects of South Australia |publisher = University of South Australia | title=Architect Details: English, Thomas| author=McDougall, Alison | date=2008 | url=https://architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=55 | access-date=18 April 2024}}

In August 1879, English called for tenders to undertake the construction work to rebuild the Crown and Anchor Hotel in Grenfell Street.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43092424 |title=Advertising |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XLIV |issue=10,229 |location=South Australia |date=27 August 1879 |access-date=17 April 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} {{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43090281 |title=Advertising |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XLIV |issue=10,217 |location=South Australia |date=13 August 1879 |access-date=17 April 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} A new two-storey building was constructed to replace the former single-storey building later that year to English's designs, costing around £1,534.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43108905 |title=Building Improvements during 1879. |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XLV |issue=10,338 |location=South Australia |date=2 January 1880 |access-date=17 April 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} {{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43108311 |title=Adelaide Licensing Bench. |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XLV |issue=10,396 |location=South Australia |date=10 March 1880 |access-date=17 April 2024 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} English & Soward advertised for tenders for stabling at the rear of the building in March 1880.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43108229 |title=Advertising |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XLV |issue=10,396 |location=South Australia |date=10 March 1880 |access-date=17 April 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Between 1878 and 1881, Edwin Smith employed English and Soward to rebuild at least two hotels, the Old Colonist in Angas Street and the Torrens Arms in Kingswood, and design alterations to four others.{{cite web | title=Building Details: Old Colonist Hotel | website=Architects of South Australia | url=https://architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/build_full.asp?B_ID=536 | access-date=18 April 2024}}

Other works designed by English include:

• Scots Church on North Terrace (built 1851; heritage-listed)
• Office building for The Advertiser, on the corner of King William and Waymouth Streets (built 1859; demolished 1958)
• Additions to Glenelg Congregational Church (1870)
• Various holiday and residential houses in Glenelg, including Glenara
• Townsend House, for former mayor of Adelaide William Townsend (built in Gothic style in 1878 as the South Australian Institution for the Blind, Deaf and Dumb, Brighton; continued as CanDo4Kids Townsend House; state heritage-listed){{cite web | title=Building Details: Townsend House | website=Architects of South Australia | url=https://architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/build_full.asp?B_ID=535 | access-date=18 April 2024}}
• Princess Berkeley Hotel, Hindley Street, Adelaide (built 1878 for T. G. Waterhouse)
• Bath Hotel, Norwood, built around 1881,{{cite web | title=Design for proposed new Bath Hotel, the Parade, Norwood | website=SA Memory| publisher= State Library of South Australia | date=12 November 2007 | url=https://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?c=3909 | access-date=17 June 2024}} locally heritage-listed in August 2000{{cite web | title= 232B The Parade Norwood | website=SA Heritage Places Database Search | url=https://maps.sa.gov.au/heritagesearch/HeritageItem.aspx?p_heritageno=5957 | access-date=17 June 2024}}

Thomas English died at his residence in Parkside on 17 December 1884.

The Hundred of English was named after English when it was proclaimed in 1866. It includes the towns of Robertstown and Point Pass in the Mid North of South Australia.{{cite web |url=http://maps.sa.gov.au/plb/# |title=Placename Details: Hundred of English |id=SA0022679 |work=Property Location Browser |publisher=Government of South Australia |date=29 January 2009 |access-date=15 February 2016}}

Several of his buildings were heritage-listed and remain today.

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{{s-bef|before=Edward Glandfield}}

{{s-ttl | title = Mayor of the Corporation of Adelaide | years =1862–1863}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Commissioner of Public Works|years=23 Oct 1865{{spaced ndash}}3 May 1867}}

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Category:Mayors and lord mayors of Adelaide

Category:1884 deaths

Category:1820 births

Category:Members of the South Australian Legislative Council

Category:People from Maryport

Category:English emigrants to colonial Australia

Category:19th-century Australian politicians

Category:19th-century Australian architects