Thomas Joseph Ryan KC (1 July 1876 – 1 August 1921) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland from 1915 to 1919, as leader of the state Labor Party.

He studied arts and law at the University of Melbourne, and worked for several years as a teacher at various private schools around Australia.

He was widely seen as the heir apparent to the Labor Party's federal leader, Frank Tudor, who was in poor health.

[1] Ryan began his education at the Pretty Hill State School before winning a scholarship to attend Xavier College in Melbourne.

Ryan subsequently moved to Tasmania where he taught classics at Launceston Church Grammar School, also completing a Bachelor of Laws by correspondence in 1899.

He retained the seat for 10 years and, after the 1912 election, he was chosen as leader of the Labor Party, following the resignation of David Bowman.

Pastoral stations were purchased and run as going concerns, and many retail butchers' shops were opened in Brisbane and other parts of Queensland, which sold meat cheaper than elsewhere and proved to be very popular.

On 29 November 1917, Billy Hughes travelled to Warwick, southern Queensland, to campaign in support of the 1917 Australian conscription referendum.

In July 1921, he set out to campaign for the Labor candidate William Dunstan in the by-election for the federal seat of Maranoa.

Archbishops Duhig and Mannix presided over his funeral in St Stephen's Cathedral and his burial in Toowong Cemetery.

Ryan was described as urbane, amiable and approachable, and his personality had allowed him to win the confidence and trust of people in all ranks, from the governor of the Bank of England to militant unionists.

He could hit hard with sarcasm when challenged by foes such as Hughes, yet he remained friendly with numerous fellow parliamentarians, including some of his firmest conservative opponents.

Many other historians believe that Ryan, a much bolder figure than federal Labor leader Frank Tudor, would have been Australia's fourth ALP Prime Minister, had he lived just a few years more.

[8] A memorial fund collected money to erect a ten-foot (3 m) bronze statue which stands in Queen's Park, Brisbane, near the Old Executive Building.