George King (21 December 1814 – 22 June 1894), was a merchant, pastoralist and politician in colonial Australia, a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1869 to 1872 and of the Queensland Legislative Council 1882 to 1890.[1]
George King | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Queensland Legislative Council | |
| In office 26 January 1882 – 23 March 1890 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | George King 21 December 1814 Riga, Russia |
| Died | 22 June 1894 (aged 79) Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia |
| Resting place | Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery |
| Nationality | Russian Australian |
| Spouse | Jane Creighton (m.1839 d.1896) |
| Relations | Robert King (son) |
| Occupation | Company director |
King was born in Riga, Russia (now in Latvia), his father, Robert King, was a partner in the Baltic firm of Balfour & Co., of Riga.[1] George received his education and mercantile training in London and in Europe.[2]
King emigrated to Australia in July 1839, and settled in Sydney, where he was a director of the Australian Trust Company, of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, and of the London Chartered Bank of Australia.[2] He was for fifteen years chairman of the Australian Mutual Provident Society, for some time a member of the Board of Advice of the Australian Agricultural Company, and has acted as a director of the Clarence and Richmond River Steam Navigation Company, and Chairman of the Melbourne Marine Insurance Company.[2]
King was elected a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for East Sydney on 3 December 1869, and sat until 3 February 1872.[3] King visited England in 1874, but returned and settled permanently in Queensland in the following year, being created a Knight of the Crown of Italy on his retirement from the Sydney consulship for Italy.[2] In 1880 Mr. King accepted the Executive Commissionership for Queensland at the Melbourne International Exhibition, and represented the colony on the steel rails inquiry held in London in 1881.[2] King was nominated to the Queensland Legislative Council on 26 January 1882, a position he held until resigning on 19 March 1890.[4]
Survived by his wife, seven sons and three daughters, King died in Toowoomba, Queensland, on 22 June 1894 and was buried in Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery.[1][5] King's eldest son Robert John King represented the Electoral district of Paddington in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1889 to 1891.[1]
References edit
- ^ a b c d Rutledge, Martha. "King, George (1814–1894)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Mennell, Philip (1892). . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
- ^ "Mr George King (1814-1894)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
- ^ "Part 2.15 – Alphabetical Register of Members of the Legislative Assembly 1860–2017 and the Legislative Council 1860–1922" (PDF). Queensland Parliamentary Record 2015–2017: The 55th Parliament. Queensland Parliament. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Cemeteries Online — Toowoomba Regional Council. Retrieved 20 February 2015.