The Hon William Pearson (senior), (20 September 1818 – 10 August 1893), was a politician and horse-breeder in colonial

Victoria (Australia) Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in ...

Early life

Pearson, one of the principal patrons of the turf in Australia, was the eldest son of Captain Hugh Pearson, R.N., of Hilton, parish of Kilmany,

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

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, and was born at Hilton. His mother was Helen, ''née'' Littlejohn. Pearson was educated at

Edinburgh High School The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves 1,200 pupils drawn from four feeder primar ...

, went to sea and became third officer on an

East Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

in 1838.

Australia

Arriving in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in the ''John Cooper'' Victoria in March 1841, Pearson travelled overland to the Port Phillip District (then part of the

Colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

) and commenced squatting in Gippsland, taking up the Lindenow station on the

Mitchell river Mitchell River may refer to: Australia *Mitchell River (Queensland) *Mitchell River (Victoria) *Mitchell River (Western Australia) Canada *Mitchell River (Cross River) *Mitchell River (Quesnel River tributary) United States *Mitchell River (Mass ...

, and after that Kilmany Park, near the junction of the Latrobe and

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rivers. Pearson was returned to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

as member for North Gippsland November 1864 to December 1867. He also represented the Eastern Province in the Victorian Legislative Council from August 1881 (winning a by-election) to November 1882, then

Gippsland Province Gippsland Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council from November 1882 until 2006. It was based in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. Gippsland Province was created in the redistribution of provinces in 1882 wh ...

until August 1893. He was the largest shareholder in the famous Long Tunnel gold mine, Walhalla. As an owner and breeder of racehorses, he dates back to 1842, since which time he has won several hundred races and bred a large number of winners by ''Warlock'' and ''Vagabond''. At Grassdale, Gippsland, Pearson married on 4 August 1859 Eliza Laura, daughter of H. J. Travers, formerly of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

Civil Service. Pearson died in East St Kilda, Victoria, Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, William 1818 births 1893 deaths Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly British emigrants to the Colony of New South Wales People from the Colony of Victoria