Alfred P. Thom

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Alfred Pembroke Thom (December 15, 1854 - 1935) was a railroad lawyer, a civic leader of Norfolk, Virginia, a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1901, and a president of The Virginia Bar Association.

Thom graduated from the University of Virginia and began practicing law in 1876.[1] In 1878, Thom fought a duel. He was wounded; his opponent, Major Sidney Pitts, was killed.[2][3] In 1883, Thom formed a law partnership in Norfolk with his brother-in-law, Richard B. Tunstall.[1] Thom and Tunstall were among the founding directors of the Norfolk Company, which developed what is now the Ghent Historic District.[4] One of the streets in Ghent is named after Thom.[5]

Beginning in 1901, Thom represented Norfolk at the Virginia Constitutional Convention.[6] He created a sensation in the early stages of the Convention, when he proposed that the delegates should begin by taking the oath from the Underwood Constitution of 1870, which the Convention was assembled to amend. Thom's proposal was voted down, 69-14.[7] Commenting on the legality of the Convention's purposes, Thom said: "We come here to sweep the field of expedients for the purpose of finding some constitutional method of ridding ourselves of [black enfranchisement] forever; and we have the approval of the Supreme Court of the United States in making that effort."[8]

Thom was one of the founders in 1898 and the first president of the Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association.[9] Thom also served as president of The Virginia Bar Association in 1904-1905.[10] In 1913, Washington and Lee University conferred on Thom an honorary doctor of laws degree.[11]

Thom was Virginia counsel to the Southern Railway,[1] and later relocated to Washington, D.C., as he became general counsel to the Association of Railway Executives, which made him a spokesman for railroad interests before Congress and in the national press during and after World War I.

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c Tyler, Lyon G., ed. (1915). Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. Lewis Historical Publishing (accessed via Google Books). 
  2. ^ THE LATEST VIRGINA DUEL. The New York Times, March 31, 1878. Retrieved on April 12, 2008.
  3. ^ A DOUBLE TRAGEDY. TERRIBLE STREET-SHOOTING AFFAIR AT EASTVILLE ON THE EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA. One Man Instantly Killed and Another Dangerously Wounded. University of Virginia. Retrieved on April 12, 2008.
  4. ^ Ghent Neighborhood History. City of Norfolk. Retrieved on April 12, 2008.
  5. ^ Pages from Norfolk's Past - Ghen. Norfolk Public Library. Retrieved on April 12, 2008.
  6. ^ Brenaman, Jacob (1902). A History of Virginia Conventions. J.L. Hill Printing Co.(accessed via Google Books). 
  7. ^ Goode, John. Recollections of a Lifetime, Neale Pub. Co. (1906).
  8. ^ Wallenstein, Peter (2004). Blue Laws and Black Codes: Conflict, Courts, and Change in Twentieth-Century Virginia. University of Virginia Press (accessed via Google Books). 
  9. ^ Bryson, William Hamilton (2000). Virginia Law Books: Essays and Bibliographies. DIANE (accessed via Google Books). ISBN 0871692392. 
  10. ^ VBA History and Heritage. The Virginia Bar Association. Retrieved on April 12, 2008.
  11. ^ Honorary Doctorate Degrees Conferred. Washington & Lee University. Retrieved on April 12, 2008.