author
T. R. (Thomas Ramsden) Ashworth
1864–1935
A lively Australian publicist and political reformer, he wrote passionately about how elections could work better. His best-known book argues for proportional representation in clear, practical terms rather than abstract theory.
1 Audiobook
Proportional Representation Applied to Party Government: A New Electoral System
by T. R. (Thomas Ramsden) Ashworth, Henry Ashworth
About the author
Born in Richmond, Victoria, in 1864, Thomas Ramsden Ashworth built an unusually varied career. He studied architecture in Melbourne, worked in property and public life, and became known as a publicist with strong views on political reform.
Ashworth is best remembered as the author of Proportional Representation Applied to Party Government, first published in the early 1900s and now available through Project Gutenberg. The book reflects his long interest in electoral systems and fairer representation, ideas he also carried into politics during his time in the Victorian parliament.
He died in 1935 in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Although he is not widely read today, his work still offers a window into an energetic period of democratic debate in Australia and into one writer's effort to make political systems more representative.