William Silas Pearse

The Honourable
William Silas Pearse
Member of the Legislative Council
of Western Australia
In office
27 June 1872  10 February 1880
Preceded by William Moore
Succeeded by Edward Higham
Constituency Fremantle
In office
21 October 1884  21 October 1890
Preceded by Edward Higham
Succeeded by None (abolished)
Constituency Fremantle
Member of the Legislative Assembly
of Western Australia
In office
5 December 1890  27 April 1895
Preceded by None (new creation)
Succeeded by Matthew Moss
Constituency North Fremantle
Personal details
Born (1838-05-21)21 May 1838
Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Died 30 December 1908(1908-12-30) (aged 70)
Bristol, England

William Silas Pearse (21 May 1838 – 30 December 1908) was an Australian businessman, pastoralist, and politician who served in both houses of the Parliament of Western Australia. He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1872 to 1880 and again from 1884 to 1890, and then a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1890 to 1895.

Pearse was born in Fremantle to Susannah (née Glyde) and William Silas Pearse Sr., his parents both being early arrivals to the Swan River Colony. After being educated privately, he went into partnership with his brother (George Pearse), opening a butchery and tannery in Fremantle. They later diversified the business into ship-owning and importing. In 1866, Pearse was elected to the Fremantle Town Trust. He was re-elected in 1868, and appointed chairman. When the trust was converted into a town council in 1871, Pearse was elected Fremantle's first mayor, serving in the position until 1872 (and as a councillor until 1874).[1]

In 1872, Pearse was elected to the Legislative Council as one of two members for the seat of Fremantle, alongside William Marmion. He and his brother mounted an expedition into the Murchison region in 1874, subsequently establishing Meka Station. Pearse resigned from the Legislative Council in 1880 to concentrate on his pastoral interests, and the following year purchased shares in three leases in the KimberleyMeda Station, Oobagooma Station, and Liveringa Station. He re-entered the Legislative Council in 1884, and remained a member until the advent of responsible government in 1890.[1] At the 1890 general election, the first to be held for the Legislative Assembly, Pearse was elected to the seat of North Fremantle.[2] He was re-elected at the 1894 election, but resigned from parliament in April 1895 in order to take an extended trip to Europe with his family.[3]

Pearse eventually retired to England, settling in Clifton, Bristol. He died there in December 1908, aged 70.[4] Pearse had married twice, firstly in 1862 to Johannah Hawkes, with whom he had one daughter. He was widowed in 1892, and remarried the following year to Alice Higham (née Glyde), who was the widow of Edward Higham. Pearse's son-in-law, George Hubble, was also a member of parliament.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 William Silas Pearse – Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  2. Black, David; Prescott, Valerie (1997). Election statistics : Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890-1996. Perth, [W.A.]: Western Australian Parliamentary History Project and Western Australian Electoral Commission. ISBN 0730984095.
  3. "THE NORTH FREMANTLE ELECTORATE.", The Daily News (Perth, Western Australia), 24 April 1895.
  4. "MR. W. S. PEARSE.", The Western Mail, 9 January 1909.
Parliament of Western Australia
New creation Member for North Fremantle
1890–1895
Succeeded by
Matthew Moss
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.