Martin Lomasney

Martin Michael Lomasney
Massachusetts State Senate 3rd Suffolk District
In office 1896–1897
Preceded by	Michael B. Gilbride
Succeeded by	Daniel D. Rourke
City of Boston Board of Aldermen
In office 1893–1895
City of Boston Board of Aldermen 3rd District
In office 1901–1903
Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office 1899–1899
Massachusetts House of Representatives 8th Suffolk District
In office 1906–1909
Massachusetts House of Representatives 5th Suffolk District
In office 1911–1917
Massachusetts House of Representatives 5th Suffolk District
In office 1921–1922
Delegate to the 1917 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention[1]
In office June 6, 1917[2] – August 13, 1919[3]
Personal details
Born	December 3, 1859 Boston, Massachusetts
Died	August 12, 1933[4] Boston, Massachusetts
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Mayhew School
Religion	Roman Catholic

Martin Michael Lomasney (December 3, 1859 -August 12, 1933) was a Massachusetts politician. He served as State Senator, State Representative, and Alderman. Lomasney was best remembered, however, for being the ward boss (political boss) of Boston's Ward Eight.

Early life

Lomasney was born in Boston, Massachuetts to Maurice Lomasney and Mary Murray, immigrants from Ireland who had fled the potato famine.

Lomasney's parents and two of his siblings died when he was still a child. After his parents died Lomasney and his older brother, Joseph P. Lomasney, moved in with their aunt.

Lomasney left school when he was in the eighth grade, he then became the leader of a local Irish street gang, and he worked as a bootblack. Lomasney later befriended a local Democratic ward boss and he worked as a lamplighter and a health inspector.

1917 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention

In 1916 the Massachusetts legislature and electorate approved a calling of a Constitutional Convention.^[5] In May 1917 Lomasney was elected to serve as a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1917, representing the 5th Suffolk District of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Trivia

Lomasney created a famous saying on the importance of discretion: "Never write if you can speak; never speak if you can nod; never nod if you can wink." Eliot Spitzer recently added the warning, "never put it in e-mail."

A cocktail, the Ward 8, was concocted at Locke-Ober in 1898 to honor Lomasney's political ward which supposedly tipped his election to the Massachusetts General Court.

References

1. ^ Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston, MA: Wright & Potter printing co., state printers, 1919, p. 11. 
2. ^ Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston, MA: Wright & Potter printing co., state printers, 1919, pp. 7–11. 
3. ^ Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston, MA: Wright & Potter printing co., state printers, 1919, pp. 865, 971. 
4. ^ M. M. Lomasney, Boston Leader In Politics, Dies Pneumonia After Lingering Illness Is Cause of Death, Hartford, Conn: The Hartford Courant, August 13, 1933, p. 9. 
5. ^ Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston, MA: Wright & Potter printing co., state printers, 1919, pp. 7–8, 11. 

Bibliography

• "Martin Lomasney and the Ward Eight". The City Record and Boston News-Letter. 2007-03-15. [1]

Bibliography

• A Souvenir of Massachusetts legislators, (1895), page 133.
• A Souvenir of Massachusetts legislators, (1896), page 131.
• A Souvenir of Massachusetts legislators, (1897), page 118.
• A Souvenir of Massachusetts legislators, (1898), page 118.
• Hennessy, Michael Edmund.: Four Decades of Massachusetts Politics, 1890-1935, (1971), ISBN 0836957008, pp 481–484.
• Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1919), pp. 7-8, 11, 865, 971.
• Public officials of Massachusetts, (1921), page 234.

Persondata
Name	Lomasney, Martin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 3, 1859
Place of birth	Boston, Massachusetts
Date of death	August 12, 1933
Place of death	Boston, Massachusetts