The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Knox, William

​Knox, William, was born in Melbourne in 1850, and educated at the Scotch College there. From 1867 to 1881 he was employed in the Bank of Victoria, and then started as an accountant in Melbourne. In 1884 the Broken Hill silver lode was discovered, and Mr. Knox acted as secretary in the formation of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited, and subsequently promoted all the leading companies formed on that silver lode, as well as the Silverton Tramway Company, Limited, and in 1885 he came to England and floated the British Broken Hill Proprietary Company, Limited, in conjunction with Messrs. Matheson & Co., of Lombard Street, for £1,200,000. In 1890 he paid a third visit to England for the purpose of establishing a London office for the parent company (the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, Limited). Mr. Knox has continued to act as secretary or director of all the above companies, which in 1890 represented an aggregate market value of over £20,000,000 sterling, and still stand at an enormous figure.