Thomas Howard Fellows was born in 1822 in Hertfordshire, England, to Thomas Fellows, solicitor, and his wife Mary. He was educated at Eton before studing law, including studing for about six years under the master pleader, Thomas Chitty. He arrived with his wife and young son aboard the Kent in Melbourne on 20 April 1853, was admitted to the bar in May that year, and by the end of June was advertising his recent publication, The New Constitution of Victoria.

He held a variety of cabinet posts between 1856 and 1868, including: Solicitor-General (June to August 1856, and April 1857 to March 1858); Attorney-General (February to March 1857); Postmaster-General (October 1863 to March 1864), and Minister of Justice (May to July 1868).

In 1870, Fellows was appointed a Trustee of the Public Library, Museums and National Gallery and a Commissioner of the planned Intercolonial Legislation and Federal Union Inquiries. In 1872, he helped to organize Victorian exhibits for the London International Exhibition of 1873 and served in the commission on the accommodation needs of the Supreme Court branches. He was appointed as fifth judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria in December 1872.

He died in April 1878, and such was his standing within colonial Victorian legal circles that, as a mark of respect, the Crown Law Offices were closed on the day of his burial at St Kilda Cemetery.

References
Woods, Carole, 2011, 'Fellows, Thomas Howard (1822-1878)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fellows-thomas-howard-3507/text5391, accessed 30 December 2011.

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