Thomas Lothian (1880-1974), publisher and publishers' representative, was born on 7 May 1880 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. His family arrived in Melbourne in 1888, and after attending Brighton Road State School, Lothian worked for four years at Cole's Book Arcade, learning the book trade and furthering his general education. About 1897 Lothian entered his father's business, and by 1901 was travelling to show samples to booksellers around eastern Australia, and throughout New Zealand. In 1912, on his father's retirement, he formed the company of Thomas C. Lothian Pty Ltd. By 1945 the company boasted offices in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland. They also had literary agents in London and New York.
Thomas Lothian was a Charter Member of the Rotary Club of Melbourne. He was Honorary Secretary 1932-33 and 1937-38 and Vice President 1968-69. He was honoured by the club in 1973 with a Paul Haris Fellow. He died on 19 April 1974 at 93 years and having been a member for over 50 years. He was Australia’s oldest and longest serving Rotarian and the last of our Charter Members. He set the remarkable record of 100% attendance for the last 48 years of his membership. He achieved this by frequently visiting other clubs, many so often that he was granted Honorary Membership. In the last week of his life, he attended four Rotary meetings.
President Lewis Bennett (left) presiding at the tree dedication ceremony of sole-surviving Charter Member, Tom Lothian (seated on left) to commemorate Melbourne Club's Jubilee Year, 1971. Seated (on right) is Professor Harold Hunt and (centre) Past District Governor Len Mitchell.
Upon his death on 19 April 1974, aged ninety-three, President Frank Newman told a Club luncheon:
"Tom Lothian saw fifty-three presidents installed in the chair. He had the remarkable record of 100 per cent attendance for every year of his last forty-eight years in Rotary. He was known by most members of every club in our District, and had an Honorary Member's badge in many of them, so frequent and regular were his visits. In fact, only last week, he attended three Rotary Clubs in addition to our own.
His passing is all the sadder for us as he was the last surviving link with members of this, the first Rotary Club formed in Australia, and as such was Australia's oldest and longest-serving Rotarian.
Members of our Club throughout these many years owe a great deal to Tom, a kindly, gentle man, who encouraged and fostered the high Rotary standards and ideals for which this Club has long been known.
He served on, and chaired, many committees and, for years, was Bulletin editor and on the Bulletin Committee. In 1973, he was accorded Rotary's highest honour, a Paul Harris Fellowship."