William James Zimpel (25 February 18593 December 1923) was a Hungarian-born Australian furniture manufacturer, furniture merchant and local government councillor who founded the Australian furniture company Zimpels.
Early life and career
Zimpel was born on 25 February 1859 in
Pesth
Pest () is the eastern, mostly flat part of Budapest, Hungary, comprising about two-thirds of the city's territory. It is separated from Buda and Óbuda, the western parts of Budapest, by the Danube River. Among its most notable sights are the ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
, to David Zimpel and his wife Anna. The family moved to Constantinople, Turkey when Zimpel was 5; following the death of his parents, Zimpel emigrated to London with his brother Adolf and his sister Klara. Having been exposed to the furniture industry while in the Ottoman Empire, Zimpel found employment as an art furniture manufacturer under John Stringer. In 1884, Zimpel moved to Perth where he was selected to work in John Grave's Federal Furniture Factory. On 2 February 1886, he married Frances Nellie Harland at St George's Anglican Cathedral in Perth. They had eight children. Zimpels later set up his own wholesale and retail furniture business which became the largest in Western Australia with some one hundred workers in its employ.
Later years
Zimpel testified before a couple of legislative committees in 1893 and 1899 and became a local municipal councillor in Western Australia. He died on 3 December 1923 in
Cottesloe and was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery. His son, Cecil Edward William, took over was Zimpels' managing director; in 1981, Parrys Esplanade Limited acquired Zimpels.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimpel, William James
Australian furniture makers
Furniture retailers of Australia
Western Australian local councillors
Emigrants from Austria-Hungary
1859 births
1923 deaths
Burials at Karrakatta Cemetery
Immigrants to colonial Australia
Expatriates in the Ottoman Empire