The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Gregson, Hon. Thomas George
Gregson, Hon. Thomas George, was born in Northumberland about 1799, and emigrated to Tasmania in 1821. He was a member of the old Legislative Council of Tasmania, and one of the "Patriotic Six" who resigned from that body in order to frustrate the arbitrary proceedings of Governor Wilmot in 1845. He was presented with a purse of £2000 in recognition of his services on this occasion. In 1850 he was returned for Richmond as one of the first elected members of the Legislative Council, and six years later, on the inauguration of free institutions, was returned for the same district to the first Tasmanian House of Assembly. Having carried a motion for the reduction of the Governor's salary, in spite of the opposition of the Champ Ministry, he was sent for by the Governor in Feb. 1857, and became Premier and Colonial Secretary of the colony. He only, however, held office till the following April, when he was ejected on a vote of censure. Mr. Gregson continued to take an active part in politics, sitting as member for Richmond in the Assembly until his death, which took place at Risdon, near Hobart, on Jan. 4th, 1874, at the age of seventy-five.