William Kaye (Australian politician)

William Kaye (c.1820 – 10 May 1893) was a politician in colonial Victoria, member for Eastern Province in the Victorian Legislative Council.^[1]

History

Kaye was born in Yorkshire, England, and arrived in Port Phillip District in February 1842.^[1] He was a partner in a Melbourne firm of squatters' auctioneers, Kaye and Butchart.^[2] He was elected to the first wholly elective Legislative Council for Eastern Province, being sworn in on 1 November 1856.^[1] Kaye was disqualified from the Council on 1 February 1857 for bribery under the Election Act.^[1] He had been found guilty by a committee of the Legislative Council, following a petition by William Highett, alleging that Kaye's payment of £200 to an election agent to campaign for him in the electorate had amounted to bribery. The payment was found to have "induced [the agent] to exert a corrupt influence upon the election, by other means than the giving of money".^[2][3]

References

1. "William Kaye". Re-Member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
2. "Bribery and corruption — Mr. Kaye and his deputy". Ovens and Murray Advertiser. 31 January 1857. p. 2. Retrieved 19 January 2017 – via Trove.
3. "Parliament of Victoria: Legislative Council". The Age. 5 March 1857. p. 5. Retrieved 19 January 2017 – via Trove.

 

Victorian Legislative Council
New district	Member for Eastern Province November 1856 – February 1857 With: Matthew Hervey James Stewart Robert Thomson Benjamin Williams	Succeeded by William Haines