Jump to content

William Knox (Victorian politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Knox
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Kooyong
In office
29 March 1901 – 26 July 1910
Preceded byNew seat
Succeeded byRobert Best
Personal details
Born(1850-04-25)25 April 1850
Melbourne, Colony of New South Wales
Died25 August 1913(1913-08-25) (aged 63)
Folkestone, England
NationalityAustralian
Political partyFree Trade (1901–06)
Anti-Socialist (1906–09)
Liberal (1909–10)
SpouseCatherine Mary McMurtrie
OccupationManaging director

William Knox (25 April 1850 – 25 August 1913)[1] was an Australian businessman and politician.

Life and career

[edit]

Knox was born in Melbourne and his family later moved to Horsham and Ballarat. He was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne[2] and joined the State Bank of Victoria in 1866 and worked in various country branches. In January 1884 he married Catherine Mary McMurtrie. In 1885, he became secretary of BHP[2] and in 1888, his yearly salary was increased from £75 to £1,500. He effectively ran the complex organisation of a company that became Australia's biggest company and the world's biggest silver miner. He resigned as secretary in 1893 to become managing director of the Mount Lyell Mining & Railway Company, but was immediately appointed to BHP's board, a position he retained until 1910.

Knox was a councillor on Malvern Shire from 1892 to 1910 and its president from 1892 to 1895. He was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council to represent South Eastern Province in 1898.[1] He supported the federation of Australia and was elected as the first member for Kooyong at the inaugural 1901 election, initially as a member of the Free Trade Party, although he later supported some of the protectionist policies of the Protectionist Party. Knox was responsible for moving a motion to begin each sitting day with prayers. He resigned from parliament shortly after his re-election in 1910, having suffered a stroke.[3] Knox was also one of the seven members of the Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust, established in 1908 to build part of Melbourne's electric tram network.[4]

The Knoxs had five sons and two daughters. When he and his wife and their younger children were visiting England in 1913, he died at Folkestone, Kent. He had declined a knighthood. His sons included:

  • George Hodges (1885–1960), appointed CMG in 1917, speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (1942–1947)
  • Robert Wilson (1890–1973), businessman, knighted 1934
  • William Johnstone, awarded the Military Cross and died of wounds in 1917
  • MacGregor, awarded the Military Cross and permanently incapacitated

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "William Knox". Re-Member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b Mennell, Philip (1892). "Knox, William" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
  3. ^ Wheeler, Doreen (1983). "Knox, William (1850–1913)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Members of Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust as first Constituted". stonlib.stonnington.vic.gov.au. 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.

 

Victorian Legislative Council
Preceded by Member for
South Eastern Province

1898–1901
With: James C. Campbell
1895–1910
Succeeded by
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by
New creation
Member for Kooyong
1901–1910
Succeeded by