Thomas Courthope Gull
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Thomas Courthope Gull
People Buried Here
Epitaph
Arriving by the Eglington in 1852, his name has been intimately associated in all pertaining to the welfare of the district, its inhabitants, and the Country of his adoption. He passed away universally regretted by a large circle of relatives and friends to whom his probity and kindness had endeared him.
Also In Loving Memory of his eldest son H.E.B. "Bertie" of Bebo Moro, Guildford and of Lizzie, dear wife of H.E.B. Gull
Description
All interments prior to 1936 recorded above were in the cemetery adjacent to Guildford Grammar School.
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Life Story
Thomas Courthope Gull (1832 – 5 January 1878) was an early settler of Western Australia who served as a member of the colony's Legislative Council from 1870 to 1872.
Born in London, England, Gull came to Western Australia in 1852. He settled in Guildford (on the outskirts of Perth), and went into partnership with his uncle, Samuel Adams Barker. Their merchant firm, Barker and Gull, survived until 1891, after both their deaths. Outside of that business, Gull also owned a property of 10,000 acres (40 km2) at Bannister (near Williams). This property and a neighbouring property co-leased with Barker were used to rear horses. Gull first ran for parliament in 1867, in the unofficial elections held to guide the governor in his nomination process. He was unsuccessful then, but in the first official elections, in 1870, contested and won the seat of Swan.
While in office, Gull was a keen advocate for the construction of what would become known as the Eastern Railway, linking Guildford with Northam. However, he was defeated at the 1872 elections by William Locke Brockman, and subsequently concentrated on his commercial interests. Gull died in Guildford in January 1878, aged only 46, from "congestion of the lungs". He had married Annie Dempster in 1861, with whom he had four sons and two daughters. Two of his brothers-in-law, Andrew and Charles Edward Dempster, and a son, Arthur Courthope Gull, were also members of parliament.