Thomas Lavery was a unionist politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

.

Lavery worked as a director of a hemstitching company. He was elected as an Ulster Unionist Party

Ulster Unionist Party

The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

 member of Down County Council, and also served as Deputy Lieutenant of County Down. At the Northern Ireland general election, 1921, he was elected in Down

Down (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Down was a county constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1921 - 1929. It returned eight MPs, using the single transferable vote method of proportional representation.-Boundaries:...

, and he held his seat, unopposed, at the 1925 general election

Northern Ireland general election, 1925

The Northern Ireland general election, 1925 was held on 3 April 1925. It was the second election to the Parliament of Northern Ireland. It saw significant losses for the Ulster Unionist Party, although they maintained their large majority. This was the last election for the Stormont parliament...

. He stood down in 1929, due to illness, but was nonetheless elected the following year to the Senate of Northern Ireland

Senate of Northern Ireland

The Senate of Northern Ireland was the upper house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It was abolished with the passing of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.-Powers:...

, serving until his death in 1938.