W. H. Paxton

Who is W. H. Paxton?

William Henry Paxton 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 Australian United Steam Navigation Company. A notable employee from 1881 was James Croker, 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.