Sir Hugh Dixson (29 January 1841 – 11 May 1926) was an Australian business man and
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
.
Biography
Dixson was born in
George Street, Sydney, the son of Hugh Dixson and his wife Helen, ''née'' Craig.
He was educated at the Elfred House Private School kept by
William Timothy Cape
William Timothy Cape (25 October 1806 – 4 June 1863) was an early school master in Sydney, Australia; several of the Premiers of New South Wales attended his school.
Cape was born at Walworth, Surrey, England, the son of William Cape, a Lon ...
at
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
. At 14 years of age, Dixson went to work at a timber yard for Phillip McMahon.
[ In 1856, he joined the ]tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
business founded by his father, and became a partner in it in 1864. In 1866, he married Emma Elizabeth (1844–1922), daughter of William Edward Shaw. The business grew steadily and, after his father's death in 1880, expanded rapidly under the management of Hugh Dixson and his brother Robert Dixson. It was subsequently merged in the British-Australasian Tobacco Company
The British-Australasian Tobacco Company Limited was an Australian tobacco manufacturer with offices in Sydney and Melbourne.
The company was formed by a merger of the ''Dixson Tobacco Company Limited'' and ''William Cameron Brothers and Company ...
Proprietary Limited, probably the largest business of its kind in Australia at the time.
Philanthropy
After retirement, Dixson and his wife continued their interest in the Baptist Church
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
and in various philanthropic
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
institutions. An early substantial gift was £5000 as the beginning of a fund to present a battleship to Britain. This fund was not successful and Dixson's gift was devoted to educating British boys at Australian agricultural colleges. In addition to seeking to fund a battleship for Britain, Dixson supported other patriotic causes. One such cause was the Legion of Frontiersmen, a patriotic, paramilitary organisation formed in Britain in 1905 by Roger Pocock, a former constable with the North West Mounted Police and Boer War veteran, to bolster the defensive capacity of the British Empire. A gift of £10,000 helped the establishment of an aged and infirm ministers' fund in the Baptist Church, and much assistance was given to the building of churches in various parts of the state. A sum of £20,000 was used to build a cancer wing at the Ryde home for incurables. Dixson, at various times, served as president of the Baptist Union, of the Baptist Home Mission Society, and of YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
. Dixson was a noted horticulturist
Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...
, becoming a member of the Linnean Society of New South Wales in 1887, and the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science in 1898. He was knighted in the 1921 Birthday Honours
The 1921 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of the King, and were ...
. Dixson died at Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
on 11 May 1926, and was survived by two sons, including Sir William Dixson
Sir William Dixson (18 April 1870 – 17 August 1952) was an Australian businessman, collector and benefactor who bequeathed his collection of over 20,000 items of Australiana to the State Library of New South Wales, forming the ''Dixson Libr ...
, and four daughters.
In 1900, Emma Dixson founded the Sydney Medical Mission, a service run by women for women of the poorer areas of the city. She was a vice-president of the League of Boy Scouts, and became the patron of the 1st Dulwich Hill
Dulwich Hill is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 7.5 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Inner West Council. Dulwich Hill stretche ...
Scout Group (known as "Mrs Emma Dixson's Own"), donating the land and paying for the construction of the scout hall. Extensions to the scout hall were built in 1924 by the Dixson children, as a memorial to their mother. In 1919, she gifted six houses in Surry Hills to the Royal Society for the Welfare of Mothers and Babies, to set up a model welfare centre. It was opened in 1922, after Emma Dixson's death, by one of her daughters, and named the Emma Elizabeth Dixson Welfare Centre; the day care centre which was part of it was known in abbreviated form as the Emma Dlxson Day Nursery. She was a life governor of the Queen Victoria Homes for Consumptives, the Crown Street Women's Hospital
Crown Street Women's Hospital (now-closed) was once the largest maternity hospital in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was located at 351 Crown Street (corner of Crown and Albion Streets), Surry Hills.
The hospital was one of severa ...
, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and of The Infants' Home Child and Family Services
The Infants' Home Child and Family Services was established in Sydney, Australia in 1874 as a refuge for unwed mothers and their babies and evolving over time to a current provider of early childhood education and health services.
Background
...
; president of the women's branch of the Empire League, and after its reorganisation, a life vice-president of the British Empire League in Australia; the National Council of Women of New South Wales, and the Victoria League
The Victoria League for Commonwealth Friendship (1901–present) is a voluntary charitable organisation that connects people from Commonwealth countries. There are currently branches in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand with affiliated organisatio ...
; president of the women's auxiliary of the Sydney City Mission; the only female patron of the Veterans' Home of New South Wales; and vice-president of the New South Wales Home for Incurables, Ryde (to which they gave £20,000), and the Fresh Air League.[
]
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixson, Hugh
1841 births
1926 deaths
Australian philanthropists
Australian businesspeople
Australian Baptists
YMCA leaders
19th-century Baptists
Australian numismatists