William Webster was an Australian politician. Born in Everton, Lancashire in England, he was the son of John Webster, a labourer, and Elizabeth, née Poynton. Leaving school at 13, Webster migrated to New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 in 1879 and, having quarried stone at Pyrmont

Pyrmont, New South Wales

Pyrmont is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Pyrmont is located 2 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney...

 and saved prodigiously, was able to bring the rest of his family to Sydney. By the next year he was financial secretary of the Trades and Labor Council. He married Jane Buckney on 7 June 1883 at Marrickville

Marrickville, New South Wales

Marrickville, a suburb of Sydney's Inner West is located 7 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the state of New South Wales, Australia and is the largest suburb in the Marrickville Council local government area...

, and the firm he founded, Webster Bros, was one of the first in New South Wales to observe the standard wage

Minimum wage

A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...

 and eight-hour day

Eight-hour day

The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. With working conditions...

.

Webster was a member of Marrickville Municipal Council

Marrickville Council

Marrickville Council is a Local Government Area situated in the Inner West region of Sydney, Australia.The area is bounded by Leichhardt to the north, the City of Sydney to the east and north-east, the City of Botany Bay to the south-east, Rockdale to the south, Canterbury to the west, and...

 from 1887, and stood for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 seats of Canterbury

Electoral district of Canterbury

Canterbury is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Linda Burney of the Australian Labor Party.-History:...

, Petersham

Electoral district of Petersham

Petersham was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, created in 1894 with the abolition of multi-member electoral districts from part of Canterbury, and named after and including the Sydney suburb of Petersham. With the introduction of...

, and Wickham, only to be defeated in all of them. Although he had opposed Federation, he contested the seat of Gwydir

Division of Gwydir

The Division of Gwydir was an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election...

 in 1901 in an attempt to enter the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

, but was unsuccessful. However, from 1901 to 1903 he was the first Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 member for Moree

Electoral district of Moree

Moree was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, created in 1894 largely replacing Gwydir and including Moree. It was abolished in 1904, with the downsizing of the Legislative Assembly after Federation, and was largely replaced by a recreated...

 in the Legislative Assembly, and as a result of his success was elected to the seat of Gwydir in 1903. He was known for always answering letters and requests from his constituents personally.

His role in the royal commission on postal services was significant, and was in part responsible for the downfall of the Deakin

Alfred Deakin

Alfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...

 government. On 9 July 1909, as part of these pursuits, Webster delivered a renowned speech lasting 10 hours and 57 minutes, a record which, under new time limits, can never be broken. As a result of this he became known as "the man with the iron jaw". He was Postmaster-General in the first Hughes

Billy Hughes

William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....

 government, and together with his Prime Minister he left the Labor Party in 1916 over conscription

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

 to join the new Nationalist Party of Australia

Nationalist Party of Australia

The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...

. He retained his place in the government until the 1919 election

Australian federal election, 1919

Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 December 1919. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes defeated the opposition Australian...

, at which he was defeated.

Webster retired to Wentworthville

Wentworthville, New South Wales

Wentworthville is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wentworthville is located 27 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. Wentworthville is split between the local government areas of the City of...

 and played no further part in politics. He died at Parramatta

Parramatta, New South Wales

Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...

on 8 October 1936 and was survived by his wife, a daughter and two sons.