Walter James Knox (6 March 1919 – 1 December 1991) was a leading New Zealand trade union leader. He was the seventh appointee to the Order of New Zealand

Early life and family

Knox was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

on 6 March 1919. His parents were Doris May () and Walter William Knox. Knox was educated at Auckland Normal School.

Career and honours

Leaving school aged 15, Knox first worked in a foundry where he was badly scarred. Aged 16, he started an apprenticeship in the footwear trade upon his father's initiative. Knox worked as a truck driver and watersider, becoming involved in the 1951 waterside strike, and rose through the union ranks to become secretary of the Auckland District Woollen Mills Employees’ Union and vice president of the Auckland Trades Council in 1961. In 1969, Knox became secretary of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, working alongside the organisation's president, Sir

Tom Skinner Sir Thomas Edward Skinner (18 April 1909 – 11 November 1991) was a New Zealand politician and Trades Union leader. Sir Tom served as President of the Auckland Trades Council from 1954 to 1976, and President of the New Zealand Federation of ...

. Skinner, Knox and other trade union leaders

Ken Douglas Kenneth George Douglas (15 November 1935 – 14 September 2022) was a New Zealand trade union leader. Early life Douglas was born in Wellington in 1935. His parents were Marjorie "Maj" Alice ( Farrow) and John Atholwood "Atty" Douglas. He wa ...

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, Pat Kelly, Blue Kennedy and Con Devitt were all well known in New Zealand 1980s due to ongoing industrial action. On 6 February 1988, Knox was the seventh appointee to the Order of New Zealand."The Order of New Zealand" (12 February 1988) 23 ''

New Zealand Gazette The ''New Zealand Gazette'' ( mi, Te Kāhiti o Aotearoa), commonly referred to as ''Gazette'', is the official newspaper of record (Government gazette) of the New Zealand Government. Published since 1840, it is the longest-running publication i ...

'' 447 at 448.

Personal life

Knox played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

for the Suburbs club in Auckland before switching codes and playing

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

for the

City Rovers The City Newton Dragons are a defunct New Zealand rugby league club that was based at Victoria Park, Auckland. The club was created in 1948 by a merger of two original clubs, the City Rovers and Newton Rangers. Both the Rovers and the Rangers pa ...

in the Auckland Rugby League competition. His sports injuries made him unfit for war service during World War II. Knox was married twice, first to Margaret Joyce Svendsen in 1943, they had two children and a long marriage, then to Elizabeth Watson Bell Curtis (née Norrie) in 1983.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knox, Jim 1919 births 1991 deaths New Zealand trade unionists People from Auckland New Zealand rugby league players City Rovers players New Zealand rugby union players Members of the Order of New Zealand New Zealand justices of the peace