Tom Armstrong was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Parliament from 1953 until his death in 1957. He was independent but generally supported the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 government of Joseph Cahill

Joseph Cahill

John Joseph Cahill was Premier of New South Wales in Australia from 1952 to 1959. He is best remembered as the Premier who approved construction on the Sydney Opera House, and for his work increasing the authority of local government in the state.-Early years:Joe Cahill, as he was popularly known,...

. Armstrong was born and educated to elementary level in Lambton, New South Wales

Lambton, New South Wales

Lambton is a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, located from Newcastle's central business district.- Early days :Originally a coal-mining township, Lambton was incorporated as a Municipality , on 24 June 1871. The 1891 Census gave the population as 3,434...

. He was the son of a coal-miner and began working as a miner at Wallsend Colliery at age 14. He eventually became an ironworker at the Newcastle Steel Works and became an official of the Ironworker's union. He was elected as an alderman of Newcastle City Council

Newcastle City Council

Newcastle City Council is the local government authority for Newcastle upon Tyne, a city in Tyne and Wear, England. The council consists of 78 councillors, three for each of the city's 26 wards...

 between 1941 and 1953 and was the Mayor of Newcastle in 1952.

State Politics

Armstrong was elected as the member for Kahibah

Electoral district of Kahibah

Kahibah was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales created in 1894 with the abolition of multi-member districts from part of the electoral district of Newcastle and named after the Newcastle suburb of Kahibah. It was abolished in 1920, with the...

 at a by-election

Kahibah state by-election, 1953

A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Kahibah on 31 October 1953. It was triggered by the forced resignation of Labor MLA Joshua Arthur, and was won by independent candidate Tom Armstrong.-Background:...

 caused by the resignation of Joshua Arthur

Joshua Arthur

Joshua George Arthur was an Australian politician who represented the Electoral district of Hamilton and the Electoral district of Kahibah for the Australian Labor Party.-Early life:...

 who was found guilty by a Royal Commission of improper business dealings.
He was re-elected at the 1956 election

New South Wales state election, 1956

The 1956 New South Wales state election was held on 3 March 1956. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1952 redistribution...

but died a year later.