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William Knox (Victorian politician)

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Australian businessman and politician

The HonourableWilliam 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) was an Australian businessman and politician.

Life and career

Knox was born in Melbourne and his family later moved to Horsham and Ballarat. He was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne 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 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. 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. 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.

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

  1. ^ "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. ^ 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 byJames Buchanan Member for
South Eastern Province
1898–1901
With: James C. Campbell
1895–1910 		Succeeded byDuncan McBryde
Parliament of Australia
Preceded byNew creation Member for Kooyong
1901–1910 		Succeeded byRobert Best
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