Walter James Knox (6 March 1919 – 1 December 1991) was a leading New Zealand trade union leader. He was the seventh appointee to the
Order of New Zealand
Early life and family
Knox was born in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
on 6 March 1919.
His parents were Doris May () and Walter William Knox. Knox was educated at
Auckland Normal School.
Career and honours
Leaving school aged 15, Knox first worked in a foundry where he was badly scarred. Aged 16, he started an apprenticeship in the footwear trade upon his father's initiative.
Knox worked as a truck driver and watersider, becoming involved in the
1951 waterside strike, and rose through the union ranks to become secretary of the Auckland District Woollen Mills Employees’ Union and vice president of the Auckland Trades Council in 1961. In 1969, Knox became secretary of the
New Zealand Federation of Labour, working alongside the organisation's president, Sir
Tom Skinner
Sir Thomas Edward Skinner (18 April 1909 – 11 November 1991) was a New Zealand politician and Trades Union leader.
Sir Tom served as President of the Auckland Trades Council from 1954 to 1976, and President of the New Zealand Federation of ...
.
Skinner, Knox and other trade union leaders
Ken Douglas
Kenneth George Douglas (15 November 1935 – 14 September 2022) was a New Zealand trade union leader.
Early life
Douglas was born in Wellington in 1935. His parents were Marjorie "Maj" Alice ( Farrow) and John Atholwood "Atty" Douglas. He wa ...
,
Bill Andersen
Gordon Harold "Bill" Andersen (21 January 1924 – 19 January 2005) was a New Zealand communist, social activist and trade union leader.
Biography
Andersen was born in Auckland on 21 January 1924, the youngest child of Hans (Skip) Andersen and ...
,
Pat Kelly, Blue Kennedy and
Con Devitt were all well known in New Zealand 1980s due to ongoing industrial action.
On 6 February 1988, Knox was the seventh appointee to the
Order of New Zealand.
["The Order of New Zealand" (12 February 1988) 23 '']New Zealand Gazette
The ''New Zealand Gazette'' ( mi, Te Kāhiti o Aotearoa), commonly referred to as ''Gazette'', is the official newspaper of record (Government gazette) of the New Zealand Government. Published since 1840, it is the longest-running publication i ...
'' 447 at 448.
Personal life
Knox played
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
for the Suburbs club in Auckland before switching codes and playing
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...
for the
City Rovers
The City Newton Dragons are a defunct New Zealand rugby league club that was based at Victoria Park, Auckland. The club was created in 1948 by a merger of two original clubs, the City Rovers and Newton Rangers. Both the Rovers and the Rangers pa ...
in the
Auckland Rugby League competition. His sports injuries made him unfit for war service during World War II.
Knox was married twice, first to Margaret Joyce Svendsen in 1943, they had two children and a long marriage, then to Elizabeth Watson Bell Curtis (née Norrie) in 1983.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knox, Jim
1919 births
1991 deaths
New Zealand trade unionists
People from Auckland
New Zealand rugby league players
City Rovers players
New Zealand rugby union players
Members of the Order of New Zealand
New Zealand justices of the peace