Mayoral portraits, Cr Thomas McPherson, 1873, John Kemp
Summary
Three quarter length portrait of Cr Thomas McPherson.
Thomas McPherson was born in Inverness, Scotland and arrived in Melbourne in 1852 where he established a successful iron and steel business in Bourke Street West. He was a councillor with the City of Melbourne during the 1860s and early 1870s as a representative for Bourke Ward, and was elected Mayor in 1870. He was the father of William McPherson, leader of the Nationalist Party and Premier of Victoria 1928-29. The Jessie McPherson Hospital and Emily McPherson School of Domestic Science were named after McPherson’s wife and daughter-in-law respectively.
John Kemp painted portraits of early Melbourne identities, including John Pascoe Fawkner and Edward Henty, which are both held by the State Library of Victoria. He lived and worked in Richmond and died in the early 1880s.
