William Charles Angwin (8 May 1863 – 9 June 1944) was an Australian politician who was Deputy Premier of Western Australia from 1924 until 1927, and Agent-General for Western Australia in London from 1927 until 1933. Born in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England, he worked as a carpenter and builder before moving to Australia. He was a founding member of the East Fremantle Municipal Council and a member of the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...

for the Labor Party from 1904 until 1927, representing the seats of

East Fremantle East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

and North-East Fremantle.

Early years

Angwin was born in

St Just in Penwith St Just (), also known as St Just in Penwith, is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies along the B3306 road which connects St Ives, Cornwall, St Ives to the A3 ...

, England, to Benjamin Angwin, a tin miner, and Mary Angwin (née Taylor). He was educated locally at a Methodist school before being apprenticed to a carpenter. He left Cornwall in 1882 to work as a builder in

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

(now Cumbria), where he joined several reform movements and worked for temperance. On 3 July 1884, he married Sarah Ann Sumpton, with whom he was to have two sons and two daughters.

Career

In 1886, he moved to Victoria, Australia, and in 1892 to

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, where he worked as a carpenter for Sandover & Co. In 1897, he helped to form the East Fremantle Municipality, which he served as a counselor for 30 years. He was mayor from 1902 until 1904. At the 1904 election, he won the

seat in the Legislative Assembly from the conservative incumbent, Joseph Holmes, achieving a 26% swing. At the election the following year following the failure of the Daglish Ministry, Holmes won the seat back with a 20-vote majority. Angwin filed a petition against his return, and on 12 April 1906, the seat was declared vacant by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on the basis that 26 votes were incorrectly recorded. Holmes appealed, but was unsuccessful, and on 24 October 1906 a by-election was called, at which Angwin won 71.4% of the vote against another opponent. He won the six following elections until his retirement from politics in 1927 — two with big majorities and four unopposed. When Labor came back to power under

John Scaddan John Scaddan, Order of St Michael and St George, CMG (4 August 1876 – 21 November 1934), popularly known as "Happy Jack", was Premier of Western Australia from 7 October 1911 until 27 July 1916. Early life John Scaddan was born in Moonta ...

at the 1911 election, Angwin was made an honorary minister in the Scaddan Ministry. After the 1914 election, he became Minister for Works, in which he served until the ministry's defeat in a vote of confidence on 27 July 1916. He served on the Fremantle Municipal Tramway and Electric Lighting Board, the War Patriotic Fund for WA and the Fremantle Public Hospital Board during this time. When Labor returned to power at the 1924 election, Angwin became Minister for Lands and Immigration. He retired from politics at the following election, and on 24 March 1927 was appointed Agent-General for Western Australia in London. He left England on 25 March 1933, and chaired two Royal Commissions on wheat in 1935 and 1938, and presided over the Rural Relief Trust in 1936.

Death

Angwin died on 9 June 1944 in East Fremantle, and was buried in the Methodist section of Fremantle Cemetery. A street near the East Fremantle council chambers is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angwin, William 1863 births 1944 deaths Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Agents-General for Western Australia People from St Just in Penwith People from Fremantle Burials at Fremantle Cemetery Australian people of Cornish descent British emigrants to Australia