William Henry Corfield

Who was William Henry Corfield?

William Henry Corfield was a politician in the Australian state of Queensland.

Born in Somerset, England, he migrated to Queensland in 1862, and engaged in numerous business interests. At the 1888 elections, he was returned unopposed for the Legislative Assembly seat of Gregory in western Queensland in support of Thomas McIlwraith, a conservative, and held it at the 1893 and 1896 elections against a growing Labour vote. At a time when party politics were still fairly fluid in Queensland, he strongly advocated for the interests of his own electorate even when it conflicted with the conservative parliamentary bloc's policies. He opposed the 1891 strikes as a "revolution against the state", and was a consistent advocate of Federation. He retired from the seat in 1898, and died in Brisbane, Queensland, on 1 September 1927.