W. H. Paxton

William Henry Paxton (1844 – 19 August 1887) was a prominent businessman in the early days of Mackay, Queensland.

He was born in 1844 in Berwick, Northumberland to Thomas Paxton and Mary Louisa Pease. Little is known of his earliest days in Australia, but he arrived in Mackay in 1874 as assistant to Robert Jonathan Jeffray of Wm. Sloan and Co., a Melbourne merchant house.

In 1876, he took over the store of sugar grower Arthur Kemmis and expanded the business as merchant and shipping agent, with close links to the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company. A notable employee from 1881 was James Croker (23 April 1851 – 27 April 1927), who later formed his own business shipping virtually all of the sugar from Mackay. Around 1885, E. V. Reid joined as partner of Paxton & Co. They opened offices in Brisbane and Sydney. Their business flourished until being taken over by McIlwraith & McEachran, which later merged with Adelaide Steamship Company. The imposing company warehouse still exists on the waterfront and is a tourist drawcard.

Jabberwock and Borough Belle

One source, difficult to substantiate, asserts that Paxton owned two ships, the steam schooners Jabberwock and Borough Belle (under captains Hugh Adrian and Robert J. Belbin) which were engaged in the labour recruiting business, now reviled as "blackbirding".

Other interests

Paxton was a director of the Mount Orange Copper Mining Company and a shareholder in the Mount Britton Goldfield Company.

He was elected as the 7th mayor of Mackay, a position he held for several years.

He married Mary Ann Cross (1858–1889) on 1 November 1876. They returned to England in 1884, intending to live in Wales, but returned to Australia two years later, moving to 59 William St. Collingwood, where he died.