Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/465

 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 439 Mr. Thomas Grose THE citizen who builds up an industry, and who also brings prudence and sense to the senate-house or the council-chamber, deserves to rank high in public estimation. Of such, the earlier Parliaments and Councils of England were composed. Each member was a man of standing among his fellows, and the days of professional politicians had not arrived. A Parliament constituted principally of country gentlemen farming their own land, was so strong and united as to defy a king, declaring war against him and bringing it to a success- ful issue. The history of Port Adelaide contains the record of many men who may be compared to that old class. Among them is Mr. Thomas Grose, who has repre- sented the Centre Ward of that town for eight years, and in December, 1898, was elected to the mayoralty without opposition. Thomas Grose was born at .St. Just, West Penzance, Cornwall, in 1837, and was a schoolfellow and playfellow there of his future brother-in-law and partner, the late Mr. William Thomas. After obtaining some considerable amount of education at private schools in St. Just, Mr. Grose, in addition to some mining experi- Hammer & Co., Phot., ence, learned the trade of a blacksmith, which enabled him in after years to carry his proficiency to the status of a practical engineer and boilermaker. At the age of 28 he accompanied his friend Mr. Thomas to South Australia, arriving at Port Adelaide in the ship Peeress in the year 1865. Soon after reaching the Province, Mr. Grose obtained employment with Mr. Robert Lindsay, of Carron Iron Works, and it was in this employment he extended his trade knowledge to the more intricate branches of engineering and ironfounding. His proficiency in these departments was soon rewarded with the foremanship of the foundry, a position which he filled with credit for a period of 12 years. The knowledge of practical engineering which Mr. Grose thus obtained enabled him, in his subsequent career as a public man, to render,