William Knox (Victorian politician)

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

Knox was born in Melbourne and his family later moved to Horsham and Ballarat He was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne and joined the 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 the recently formed Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd and in 1888, his yearly salary was increased from £75 to £1500. 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 and Railway Company, but was immediately appointed to BHP's board, a position he retained until 1910.^[1]

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. He resigned from parliament in 1910 after suffering a stroke.

The Knoxs had five sons and two daughters and he and his wife and their youngest children travelled to England, but 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

[edit] Notes

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by New division	Member for Kooyong 1901–1910	Succeeded by Robert Best

Persondata
NAME	Knox, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Australian businessman and politician
DATE OF BIRTH	25 April 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH	Melbourne
DATE OF DEATH	25 August 1913
PLACE OF DEATH	Folkestone, Kent