William Grills Knight (23 January 1839 3 May 1903) was a prominent businessman and politician who served as the Mayor of Albany in the Great Southern region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Knight was born 23 January 1839 in

Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

to Stephen Henry Knight, a

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

who had arrived on ''Parmelia'' in 1829 as one of the first settlers. The family moved to Albany the following year. He married Ann Augusta McKail and together they had four children. In 1865 Knight was working as a farmer and grazier at ''Woodlands'', a farm owned by

John McKail John McKail (22 January 1810 – 6 August 1871) was an early settler of Western Australia. He was among the first arrivals in the Swan River Colony in 1829, but in 1835 was banished to Albany after trouble with the law. In Albany, he set up as ...

, in the

Porongurups Porongurup National Park is a national park in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. It covers , and is southeast of Perth and north of Albany. The park contains the Porongurup Range, which is the relic core of an ancient mount ...

. The Rocks, an iconic building in Albany, was built by Grills in 1882 as his residence. The building, now used as an exclusive hotel, is

heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...

listed. First elected in 1876 Knight then served as chairman from 1877 to 1879. Knight remained on the council and was elected as Mayor of Albany in 1886. While Mayor, Knight raised the required capital to build the Albany Town Hall in 1886, which he later opened in 1888. By 1889

Lancel Victor de Hamel Lancel Victor de Hamel (10 September 1849 – 25 November 1894) was a publisher, solicitor and politician who represented the people of Albany, Western Australia, Albany in the Great Southern (Western Australia), Great Southern region of Western ...

was elected Mayor, with Knight remaining on the council until his re-election as Mayor in 1897. He remained as Mayor until 1899 when C. M. McKenzie was elected to the position. In 1896, Knight and his son started a shipping and station agents business in Albany. Knight died in Albany on 4 May 1903 and was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, William Grills 1839 births 1903 deaths 19th-century Australian politicians Mayors of Albany, Western Australia

See also

References