Career
Born in Bolton, Lancashire, Tomney found himself jobless during the Great Depression and walked to London in search of employment. After arriving in London he moved into the Rowton House in Hammersmith, a hostel for working mentor This was to be the beginning of a long association with that area of west London.
Tomney obtained work as a night-watchman in a glass blowing factory, and became an active trade unionist.
From 1940 he was branch secretary of the General and Municipal Workers Union. With an approaching general election in 1950, the Labour Party found itself without a candidate at Hammersmith North.
Tomney volunteered to stand, and was comfortably elected with a majority of nearly 3,000 votes over Pritt. He was re-elected at each election until he stood down in 1979, and was seen as being on the right wing of the Labour Party, a fact that was often to lead to conflict within the constituency party in Hammersmith North.
Tomney took an interest in European and international affairs, and was a delegate to the Council of Europe and the Western European Union on a number of occasions between 1963 and 1979.
Tomney retired from the House of Commons in 1979. He died aged 76 in Hillingdon Hospital.
