William Brooks (31 December 1858 – 14 October 1937) was an English-born Australian politician. He was born in Tiverton in Devon to lacehand James Brooks and Mary Ann Williams. He attended boarding school locally and began work as a compositor, migrating to Cape Colony in 1880 where he served in the Basuto Gun War. In 1884 he migrated to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, working first as a compositor for the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' before running his own printing business. From 1919 to 1927 he served on Sydney City Council, and from 1911 to 1924 he was the president of the Master Printers' Association. From 1917 to 1934, Brooks served as a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

, representing first the Nationalist Party and then the United Australia Party. He died in

Double Bay Double Bay is a harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 4 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district. It is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality of ...

in 1937. Predeceased by his wife, he was survived by five daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, William 1858 births 1937 deaths Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales British emigrants to the British Empire Immigrants to the Cape Colony Immigrants to colonial Australia Businesspeople from the British Empire United Australia Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Colony of New South Wales people