Background
Thomas Alford was born on 6 September 1817 in The Rectory, Street Audries church, West Quantoxhead, Somerset, England, the son of Charles Alford (the rector of West Quantoxhead) and his wife Elizabeth (née Symes).
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Thomas Alford
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Career
He was instrumental in establishing the townships of and Toowoomba. Started out as a settlement known as The Springs near a number of pastoral properties in the eastern Darling Downs in the early half of the 1840s. Thomas Alford was an early settler in the area who built a house and general store in the area.
He named his house Street Audries (the name of his father"s church in England) and the town after his home village, in Somerset.
Alford obtained a license to sell alcohol from his store in 1844, after which it became known as The Downs Inn. In 1846 the inn was transferred to Stephen Mehan (or Meehan) and Alford built a house and store that incorporated the first post office on the Darling Downs, opening on 1 January 1846.
Thomas Alford"s son, Henry King Alford, was born on 22 July 1842, apparently the first white child born in Toowoomba. Henry King was to be the mayor of Toowoomba from 1911-1912.
Thomas Alford died at his residence in Russell Street, Toowoomba, on Saturday 9 January 1864 aged 46 years after a long illness.
He was buried in the and Toowoomba Cemetery.
