Thomas Glaholm
Encyclopedia
Thomas Glaholm was the son of a Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

 steam flour miller
Miller
A miller usually refers to a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents in other languages around the world...

. He went on to open a successful rope manufacturing plant in Sunderland and was a founder member of a daily provincial newspaper
Local news
In journalism, local news refers to news coverage of events in a local context which would not normally be of interest to those of other localities, or otherwise be of national or international scope.-Television:...

, the Sunderland Echo
Sunderland Echo
The Sunderland Echo is an evening newspaper serving the Sunderland, South Tyneside and East Durham areas of North East England. The newspaper was founded by Samuel Storey, Edward Backhouse, Edward Temperley Gourley, Charles Palmer, Richard Ruddock, Thomas Glaholm and Thomas Scott Turnbull in 1873,...

.

Early life

Thomas Glaholm, the son of steam flour miller Thomas Glaholm, was born in Gateshead
Gateshead
Gateshead is a town in Tyne and Wear, England and is the main settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. Historically a part of County Durham, it lies on the southern bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle upon Tyne and together they form the urban core of Tyneside...

 in December 1834. He moved to Sunderland in 1857 and began the Hendon Patent Ropery with his brother-in-law, Samuel Sinclair Robson.

Business life

The Glaholm and Robson manufacturing plant quickly proved a success and, in the mid-1860s, it employed a young Samuel Storey
Samuel Storey
Samuel Storey was a British politician born in County Durham. He became a Member of Parliament for Sunderland and the main founder of the Sunderland Echo newspaper.-Early life:...

 as a travelling salesman. Glaholm and Storey shared the same Radical and Liberal ideals and, some 10 years later, they went on to become two of the founding members of the Sunderland Echo newspaper.

Glaholm was also involved in several other businesses, including the Wreath Quay Forge, the Wear Pottery at Southwick, Sunderland, and the Phoenix Iron Foundry in Coronation Street, Sunderland. He eventually retired from the Hendon Ropery in 1878.

Political life

Glaholm was a Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 who served as a councillor on Sunderland Town Council
Town council
A town council is a democratically elected form of government for small municipalities or civil parishes. A council may serve as both the representative and executive branch....

 from 1863-1878, spending time as chairman of the Finance Committee. Glaholm and Storey also brought the unsuccessful Liberal petition against George Elliot's
Sir George Elliot, 1st Baronet
Sir George Elliot, 1st Baronet, JP was a self-made businessman from Gateshead in the North-East of England. A colliery labourer who went on to own several coal mines, he later bought a wire rope manufacturing company which manufactured the first Transatlantic telegraph cable...

 return as MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

for North Durham, following the North Durham by-election of 1874.

Personal life

Glaholm died unmarried. He was survived by three sisters; Mrs Robson, Mrs Reid and Mrs Clarke. Glaholm had retained a quarter share in the Sunderland Echo when it was formed into a company after the break-up of the Carnegie-Storey syndicate in 1885, and his shares passed to his sisters.

Further reading

  • Sunderland Daily Echo and Daily Post: March 16, 1888 - Glaholm's obituary
  • Sunderland Daily Echo and Daily Post: March 19, 1888 - details of his funeral
  • Sunderland Times: July 21, 1874 - petition lodged against Elliot's return
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