Jim Knox

Walter James Knox ONZ JP (6 March 1919 – 1 December 1991) was a leading New Zealand trade union leader. He was the seventh appointee to the Order of New Zealand.

This article is about the New Zealand trade unionist. For other people with the same name, see James Knox (disambiguation).

Jim Knox
ONZ JP
Knox in 1969
5th President of the Federation of Labour
In office
2 May 1979 – 20 October 1987
Preceded byTom Skinner
Succeeded byKen Douglas[nb 1]
Personal details
Born
Walter James Knox

(1919-03-16)16 March 1919
Auckland, New Zealand
Died1 December 1991(1991-12-01) (aged 72)
Wellington, New Zealand
Spouses
Margaret Joyce Svendsen
​
​
(m. 1943; div. 1983)​
    Elizabeth Watson Bell Curtis
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1983)​
    Children2

    Early life and family

    Knox was born in Auckland on 6 March 1919.[1] His parents were Doris May (née Dodds) and Walter William Knox. Knox was educated at Auckland Normal School.[2]

    Career and honours

    Leaving school aged 15, Knox first worked in a foundry where he was badly scarred. Aged 16, he started an apprenticeship in the footwear trade upon his father's initiative.[1] Knox worked as a truck driver and watersider, becoming involved in the 1951 waterside strike, and rose through the union ranks to become secretary of the Auckland District Woollen Mills Employees’ Union and vice president of the Auckland Trades Council in 1961. In 1969, Knox became secretary of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, working alongside the organisation's president, Sir Tom Skinner.

    Skinner, Knox and other trade union leaders Ken Douglas, Bill Andersen, Pat Kelly, Blue Kennedy and Con Devitt were all well known in New Zealand 1980s due to ongoing industrial action.[3]

    On 6 February 1988, Knox was the seventh appointee to the Order of New Zealand.[4]

    Personal life

    Knox played rugby union for the Suburbs club in Auckland before switching codes and playing rugby league for the City Rovers in the Auckland Rugby League competition. His sports injuries made him unfit for war service during World War II.[1]

    Knox was married twice, first to Margaret Joyce Svendsen in 1943, they had two children and a long marriage, then to Elizabeth Watson Bell Curtis (née Norrie) in 1983.[1]

    • Media related to Jim Knox at Wikimedia Commons

    References
    1. As President of the Council of Trade Unions
    1. Franks, Peter. "Knox, Walter James". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
    2. Lambert, Max (1991). Who's Who in New Zealand, 1991 (12th ed.). Auckland: Octopus. p. 350. ISBN 9780790001302.
    3. "Still no justice for Trades Hall bomb death". Stuff. 23 July 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
    4. "The Order of New Zealand" (12 February 1988) 23 New Zealand Gazette 447 at 448.
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