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Former Member Details

Mr George Henry COX (1824 - 1901)

Member Photo
Date of Birth: 18/10/1824
Place of Birth: Mulgoa, New South Wales, Australia
Date of Death: 28/11/1901
Place of Death: Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia
Parliamentary Service
Position Start End Period Notes
Member of the NSW Legislative Council 23 Jun 1863 28 Nov 1901 38 years 5 months 6 days Life Appointment under the Constitution Act. Date of Writ of Summons 17 June 1863.
Seizure of Gold on board the ‘Ethereal’ and ‘May Nicholson’ Committee No.21 15 Jun 1858 26 Nov 1858 5 months 12 days
St Philip’s Parsonage Bill Committee No.23 15 Jun 1858 26 Nov 1858 5 months 12 days
Scab and Catarrh in Sheep Committee No.14 27 Apr 1858 26 Nov 1858 7 months
Member for Wellington (County) 29 Jan 1858 11 Apr 1859 1 year 2 months 14 days
Seizure of Gold Dust on board the “Ethereal” Committee No.18 04 Dec 1857 18 Dec 1857 15 days
Scab and Catarrh in Sheep Committee No.9 23 Oct 1857 18 Dec 1857 1 month 26 days
Australian Mutual Provident Society’s Bill Committee No.26 12 Dec 1856 18 Mar 1857 3 months 7 days
Impounding Laws Committee No. 10 15 Aug 1856 18 Mar 1857 7 months 4 days
Member for Wellington (County) 10 Apr 1856 19 Dec 1857 1 year 8 months 10 days
Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly 10 Apr 1856 11 Apr 1859 3 years 2 days
Political Party Activity
Freetrade.
Community Activity
Commissioned as a Justice of the Peace in 1852. Foundation member, Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales from 1869 - 1888. President of the New South Wales Sheep Breeders' Association, 1895 - 1901. President, New South Wales Pastoralists' Union, 1891- 1893. Foundation member, Landowners' Defence League of New South Wales. Executive of the Farmers and Settlers' Association 1900 - 1901. Director, Farmers and Settlers' Cooperative Association Limited, 1899. Commissioner for the International Exhibitions in Melbourne, 1875; in Philadelphia, 1876; in Sydney, 1879; in Amsterdam, 1883. in Calcutta, 1884; in and Chicago, 1893. Member of the Public Schools League, around 1877. Prominent on the Anglican Synod 1873 - 1901.
Qualifications, occupations and interests
Pastoralist. Educated at the school of Reverend T.C Makinson and at The King's School, Parramatta. Was a pastoralist and sheep breeder on election to the Legislative Assembly. In 1845, became the manager of his father's freehold propert, Burrundulla, at Mudgee. From the early 1850's he let 40 acre farms at £100 per annum on his Cudgegong River property. By the 1860's, he had over 30 tenants. In the 1850's and 1860's, he expanded his interests on the Liverpool Plains and on the Warrego River, Queensland, where he held extensive sheep and cattle runs. By 1876, he had sold most of his leases but retained Pine Ridge, near Dubbo, until 1899. He was a successful breeder of merino sheep and won international awards for his fleeces.
Military Service
Honours Received
Membership of other Parliaments & Offices Held
Local Government Activity
Alderman for Cudgegong 1860 - 1877 and Mayor 1860 - 1862, and 1865.
Personal
Son of George Cox, pastoralist, and Elizabeth Bell. Married his cousin, Henrietta Jane, daughter of Henry Cox, on 21 June 1853 and had issue, 5 sons and 7 daughters. He was the nephew of both Edward Cox and Archibald Bell and the cousin of Edward King Cox. Edward Cox was a member of the first Legislative Council and subsequently the Legislative Council from 1866 - 1868. Archibald Bell was a member of the Legislative Assembly for the Upper Hunter, 1868 - 1872 and the Legislative Council from 1879 - 1883; and Edward King Cox was a member of the Legislative Council between 1874 - 1883. Church of England.
Additional Information
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3. Personal papers in the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales: 1. Cox family - papers concerning 'Burrundulla', Mudgee, 1864 (FM3/692); photographs in the PICMAN Database. 2. George Cox - correspondence, 1846 - 1867 (MLMSS1150); photographs in the PICMAN Database. Biography and portrait in ‘Australian Men of Mark’, Volume 1. Sydney, [?1889] , page 8