Thomas Patton

Thomas William Saunderson Patton OBE (27 July 1914 – 20 October 1993), often known as Tommy Patton, was an Ulster unionist politician.

Background Patton grew up in Belfast, where he attended the Templemore Avenue School.

He worked at Harland & Wolff for twenty-nine years from 1932, when he moved to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

Thomas was elected to Belfast City Council for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) at the 1973 local election. He retired in 1982, but continued to sit on the council, serving as Lord Mayor of Belfast that year. He was appointed as High Sheriff of Belfast for 1992/3.

Journalist Jim McDowell hailed him as “a cornerstone of the unionist working class vote.” Today, his memory lives on in East Belfast at the Alderman Tommy Patton Memorial Park—a tribute to a life built on hard work and service to community.