TOMAS EARNSHAW (1867
-?)
LIKE his elder brother, Manuel, Tomas Earnshaw was an engineer who scaled the ladder of public service in area quite different from his education and training. Born on November 5, 1867, in the old town of Cavite (now Cavite City), he first studied at the Ateneo de Manila and then went on to take a course offered by the Spanish Navy Yard, graduating as a marine engineer.
He held such responsible technical positions as chief engineer, Manila Water Supply; hull and boiler inspector of Manila harbor Office; director manager of the machine shops of Boyle and Earnshaw; manager and first vice president of the Manuel Earnshaw & Co., which he founded along with Manuel; and president of the renamed Earnshaw Docks and Honolulu Iron Works.
Having a great success in private business, Tomas Earnshaw was gradually attracted to public service, occupying such positions as president of the Metropolitan Water District, the precursor of the MWSS (Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Service); vice president of the Manila Railways Company manager of the National Development Company; director of the Manila Hotel Company; and member of the Council of Hygiene.
Earnshaw appointment to the mayorship of Manila in 1927, the sixth Filipino to become top executive of capital city of the Philippines, was no surprise. His friends knew that he was not only well qualified for the job but also learned it after serving as a member of several Philippine Independence missions to the United States headed by Manuel L. Quezon, longtime colleague of his brother Manuel as co resident commissioner on Washington.
As mayor of Manila, Earnshaw left a lasting legacy to the city residents in the Metropolitan Theatre on Plaza Lawton (now Liwasang Bonifacio), then regarded as one of the finest theatres in the Orient. Through public subscriptions, Mayor Earnshaw succeeded in putting up the Metropolitan Theatre, the first community owned theatre in the country, which became the scene of many historic events before and during the Japanese occupation. It was in this theatre when D. Jose P. Laurel, President of the Second Republic, delivered his inaugural address in October 1943.
(Sources: (1) Sol H. Gwekoh, Hall of Fame, Manila Times, November 21, 1966; and (2) Miguel Cornejo, Commonwealth Directory of the Philippines. Manila, 1939.)