William Alexander McArthur
William Alexander McArthur (1857 – 7 June 1923), was a British Liberal politician and businessman.
McArthur was born in Sydney, Australia, the eldest son of Alexander McArthur[1] and his wife Maria Bowden, the second daughter of the Rev. William B. Boyce.[1][2] His father was a businessman and politician in Australia and England, becoming MP for Leicester.[3] He was educated privately.
He married on 12 August 1890 at the Trinity Wesleyan Church, Abingdon-on-Thames, Berkshire, to Florence Creemer (died 24 October 1940),[4] the third daughter of John Creemer Clarke of Wayste Court, Abingdon, and had one son and two daughters.[5][6][7]
He became a merchant like his father.[3] He became a partner in the firm of W. and A. McArthur, Colonial Merchants. He was a Director of the Bank of Australasia.[1] He was Mas Commr. for New South Wales at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in 1886.[5]
McArthur was elected to Parliament for Buckrose at the 1886 general election, with a majority of a single vote, but was unseated on a scrutiny being held and the seat was awarded to the Conservative candidate, Christopher Sykes. He entered Parliament for St Austell in an 1887 by-election, a seat he held until 1908. He served in the Liberal administrations of William Ewart Gladstone and the Earl of Rosebery as a Junior Lord of the Treasury from 1892 to 1895.
McArthur died 7 June 1923 at a private hospital in Sydney, aged 66, and was interred 8 June at South Head Cemetery.[7]
References
- ^ a b c Mennell, Philip (1892). . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
- ^ The Sydney Morning Herald 22 Aug 1853, p. 3
- ^ a b British Census 1881
- ^ The Times 26 Oct 1940, p. 1
- ^ a b Debrett's House of Commons, 1901
- ^ The Times 14 Aug 1890, p. 1
- ^ a b Daily Commercial News and Shipping List (Sydney) 8 June 1923, p. 4