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Thomas Rowe

{{Short description|Australian politician}}

{{other people}}

{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix = Colonel

|name = Thomas Rowe

|honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|sep=,|VD|JP|FRIBA}}

| image = Thomas_Rowe.jpg

| office = 1st Mayor of Manly

| term_start = 15 February 1877

| term_end = 7 February 1879

| successor = Alfred Hilder

| office1 = Alderman of the Municipality of Manly

| term_start1 = 13 February 1877

| term_end1 = 1 October 1880

| predecessor1 =

| successor1 = James Boscawen Duff

| office2 = Alderman of the City of Sydney
for Bourke Ward

| term_start2 = 2 December 1872

| term_end2 = 30 November 1876

| predecessor2 = Joseph Raphael

| successor2 = John Young

| office3 = 1st President of the Board of Water Supply and Sewerage

| term_start3 = 26 March 1888

| term_end3 = 24 March 1892

| predecessor3 = New office

| successor3 = Cecil West Darley

| office4 = President of the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage

| term_start4 = 20 March 1896

| term_end4 = 14 January 1899

| predecessor4 = Cecil West Darley

| successor4 = Jacob Garrard

| office5 = Official Member of the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage

| term_start5 = 26 March 1888

| term_end5 = 14 January 1899

| predecessor5 = New office

| successor5 = Jacob Garrard

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1829|7|20}}

| birth_place = Penzance, Cornwall, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1899|01|14|1829|7|20}}

| death_place = Darling Point, Colony of New South Wales

| occupation = Architect

| alma_mater =

| signature =

| allegiance = {{UK}}

| branch = NSW Defence Force

| serviceyears = 1872–1899

| serviceyears_label =

| rank = Colonel

| unit =

| commands = New South Wales Corps of Engineers

| awards = 30px Volunteer Officers' Decoration (1895){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108078768 |title=MERITORIOUS SERVICE. |newspaper=Evening News |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=28 December 1895 |access-date=13 June 2020 |page=1|via=Trove }}

}}

Thomas Rowe {{post-nominals|country=GBR|sep=,|VD|JP|FRIBA}} (20 July 1829 – 14 January 1899) was a British-born architect, builder and goldminer who became one of Australia's leading architects of the Victorian era.J. M. Freeland, [http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rowe-thomas-4517 Thomas Rowe], pp 68–69, Volume 6, Australian Dictionary of Biography (MUP, 1976) He was also a politician, who was the first Mayor of Manly.

Early life

{{Unreferencedsect|date=October 2024}}

Thomas Rowe was born in Penzance, Cornwall, United Kingdom, the eldest son of Richard Rowe and Ursula Mumford, and attended Barnes Academy. At 15 he became a draftsman in his father's building business before the family emigrated to Australia in 1848. From 1857 he practised as an architect in Sydney, Bathurst, Orange, Newcastle and Goulburn. As an architect he was often successful in competitions and his firms built commercial premises, large houses and many Methodist churches.

Political career

In 1872, he was elected alderman for Bourke Ward of the Sydney City Council, which he held until 1876. During his time on the council he worked on sanitation efforts related to improving the Sydney water supply. Rowe Street, which runs from Pitt Street to Castlereagh Street, was at that time named after him by in a vote by the council.{{cite web|title=Thomas Rowe|url=http://www.sydneyaldermen.com.au/alderman/thomas-rowe/|website=Sydney's Aldermen|publisher=City of Sydney|accessdate=22 June 2016}}

In February 1877, he was elected to the first Manly Municipal Council and was elected first Mayor of Manly, overseeing the first laying-out of the town of Manly, and serving as an alderman until 1880.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223128239 |title=MUNICIPALITY OF MANLY. |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |issue=66 |date=16 February 1877 |accessdate=23 June 2016 |page=735 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Military career

File:Colonel Thomas Rowe VD, Commanding Officer of the NSW Corps of Engineers c. 1899.pngRowe was also involved in the volunteer NSW Colonial Forces, receiving a commission as a lieutenant in the newly formed New South Wales Corps of Engineers in 1872, and was promoted to the rank of captain in 1874.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14195811 |title=DEATH OF COLONEL ROWE. A WORTHY COLONIST. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=16 January 1899 |access-date=13 June 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }}

When the Colonial Volunteer Force was disbanded and reorganised as the NSW Defence Force in 1878, Rowe was recommissioned a captain, and promoted to major in 1880. Raised to rank of brevet Lieutenant Colonel in 1886, Rowe undertook a European tour the following year, visiting Aldershot, Chatham, Enfield, and Woolwich, in search of information relating to defence matters. Rowe later designed several entrenching tools for the use of the engineers corps, including a bullet-proof shovel. Following the return to England of Colonel Henry Renny-Tailyour in 1894, Rowe took up the position of Commander of the New South Wales Corps of Engineers, was promoted to the rank of Colonel in 1895, and served until his retirement on 30 June 1898.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14164609 |title=THE COMMAND OF THE ENGINEERS. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=25 May 1898 |access-date=13 June 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }}

Later life and career

Rowe was also the founder, and for many years president, of the New South Wales Institute of Architects, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1884.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113705599 |title=COLONEL ROWE. |newspaper=Evening News |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=14 January 1899 |access-date=13 June 2020 |page=6 |via=Trove }}

In 1888 the Premier Sir Henry Parkes appointed Rowe as the first President of the Board of Water Supply and Sewerage, and served in that office until his death, with the exception of the period 1892 to 1896 when Cecil West Darley presided.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222123643 |title=Government Gazette Appointments and Employment |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=26 March 1888 |access-date=13 June 2020 |page=2243 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220989666 |title=Government Gazette Appointments and Employment |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=27 January 1899 |access-date=13 June 2020 |page=734 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222215705 |title=Government Gazette Appointments and Employment |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=20 March 1896 |access-date=13 June 2020 |page=2046 |via=Trove }} His presidency was well-received, with an account after his death noting: "The great leaps and bounds by which the department has progressed, and its present state of efficiency, bear ample testimony to the capability of his administration."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71322794 |title=The Late Colonel Rowe. |newspaper=Australian Town and Country Journal |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 January 1899 |access-date=13 June 2020 |page=21 |via=Trove }}

He died age 69 in January 1899 at Mona, his leased residence since 1881 in Darling Point.{{cite web |title=Mona - 38 Mona Road, Darling Point |url=https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2711220 |website=NSW State Heritage Inventory |publisher=Heritage NSW |accessdate=13 June 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Jacobsen |first1=Patricia |title=Mona and Greenoaks |url=https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/mona_and_greenoaks |publisher=The Dictionary of Sydney |accessdate=13 June 2020 |date=2016}} In accordance with his wishes "to be laid to rest near the sea", he was buried in his military uniform at Waverley Cemetery following a service at St Mark's Church, Darling Point.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165229373 |title=The Late Colonel Rowe. |newspaper=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 January 1899 |access-date=13 June 2020 |page=149 |via=Trove }}

Key works

(Many of the following buildings are heritage-listed):The Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company, 1981, pp. 2/34,38,60,61,81,95,99,174,252,260

File:Hill End Presbyterian Church.JPG|St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Hill End

Image:Stanmore Newington College 1.JPG|Founders Wing, Newington College

File:Prescotthall.png|Prescott Hall, Newington College

File:Dramacentre.png|Stanmore Methodist Church, now part of the drama centre, Newington College

File:Parsonagenewington.jpeg|Stanmore Methodist Parsonage, now Headmaster's residence, Newington College

Image:SydneyHospital.JPG|Sydney Hospital, Macquarie Street

File:Great Synagogue, Sydney Window.jpg|Great Synagogue, Elizabeth Street

Image:(1)Edina War Memorial Hospital-1.jpg|Edina, Waverley

File:Ashton1111.JPG|Ashton, Elizabeth Bay

File:Town Hall, Petersham c. 1890.jpg|Petersham Town Hall c. 1890

File:(1)_Mona1.jpg|Mona, where Rowe died

=Architectural partners=

  • W. B. Field
  • Sydney Green
  • Alfred SpainJ. M. Freeland, The Making of a Profession (Sydney, 1971)

Harry Ruskin Rowe

Image:(1)The_Cabbage_Trees_Ruskin_Rowe.jpg

Rowe's son Harry Ruskin Rowe was also successful as an architect. One of his most significant achievements was the creation in 1950 of Ruskin Rowe, an estate in the Sydney suburb of Avalon. Rowe acquired a house, The Cabbage Trees, in the estate and used it as a weekender. The estate still exists and is heritage-listed.[http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2270100 State Heritage Register]

References

{{Portal|Architecture}}

{{commons category|Thomas Rowe}}

{{Reflist}}

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{{s-civ}}

{{s-new}}

{{s-ttl |title= Mayor of Manly | years =1877 – 1879}}

{{s-aft|after=Alfred Hilder}}

{{s-npo|pro}}

{{S-bef| before= George Allen Mansfield }}

{{S-ttl| title=President of the Institute of Architects of New South Wales | years=1878–1889}}

{{S-aft| after=John Horbury Hunt }}

{{S-bef| before= John Horbury Hunt }}

{{S-ttl| title=President of the Institute of Architects of New South Wales | years=1895–1898}}

{{S-aft| after= John Barlow }}

{{s-gov}}

{{s-new}}

{{s-ttl |title= President of the Board of Water Supply and Sewerage | years =1888 – 1892}}

{{s-aft|after=Cecil West Darley}}

{{s-bef|before=Cecil West Darley}}

{{s-ttl |title= President of the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage | years =1896 – 1899}}

{{s-aft|after=Jacob Garrard}}

{{s-mil}}

{{s-bef|before=Colonel Henry Renny-Tailyour}}

{{s-ttl |title= Commanding Officer of the New South Wales Corps of Engineers | years =1894 – 1898}}

{{s-aft|after=Major Thomas Samuel Parrott}}

{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Thomas}}

Category:1829 births

Category:1899 deaths

Category:Military personnel from Cornwall

Category:People from Penzance

Category:Australian people of Cornish descent

Category:English emigrants to colonial Australia

Category:Australian ecclesiastical architects

Category:Gothic Revival architects

Category:New South Wales architects

Category:19th-century Australian architects

Category:19th-century Australian politicians

Category:19th-century Australian military personnel

Category:Mayors of Manly, New South Wales

Category:Australian colonels

Category:Australian military engineers

Category:Public servants of New South Wales

Category:Burials at Waverley Cemetery

Category:Royal Australian Engineers officers