William Watt

William Alexander Watt (23 November 187113 September 1946) was an Australian politician. He served two terms as Premier of Victoria before entering federal politics in 1914. He then served as a minister in the government of Billy Hughes from 1917 to 1920, including as acting prime minister during World War I, and finally as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1923 to 1926. Early life Watt was born on 23 November 1871 in Barfold, Victoria, a rural locality near Kyneton. He was the youngest of eleven children born to Jane (née Douglas) and James Michie Watt, a farmer. His father was born in Scotland and arrived in Australia in 1843, while his mother was born in Ireland. Watt's father died the year after he was born, and the family subsequently moved to Phillip Island. Six years later they moved to Melbourne, where Watt began his education at the Errol Street State School (now North Melbourne Primary School). He left school at a young age, finding work as a newsboy and later as a clerk at an ironmongery and a tannery. In 1888 he began attending night classes in accountancy at the Working Men's College. He qualified as an accountant and eventually became a partner in a "hay and corn store". Watt was secretary of the North Melbourne Debating Club and served on the executive of the Australasian Federation League of Victoria. He was prominent in the Australian Natives' Association and campaigned for federation, becoming a protégé of the Victorian liberal leader Alfred Deakin. State politics In 1897 Watt was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly for North Melbourne, defeating Labor's George Prendergast (another future Premier), but at the 1900 election Prendergast recaptured the seat. In 1902 he was returned for the safe liberal seat of East Melbourne, holding that seat until 1904, when he shifted to Essendon. In 1899 he became Postmaster-General in the short-lived government of Allan McLean, then sat out Thomas Bent's government, returning to office under John Murray in 1909 as Treasurer, a post he held until 1912. By that time he was leader of the "urban" faction of the Liberal Party, opposed to Murray's rural-dominated government. When Murray resigned as Premier on 12 May, Watt succeeded him.