Hugh Dixson

For his nephew Hugh Robert Dixson (1865–1940), also a businessman and philanthropist, see Hugh Denison.

Hugh Dixson
Born(1841-01-29)January 29, 1841
George Street, Sydney
DiedMay 11, 1926(1926-05-11) (aged 85)
Colombo, Sri Lanka
OccupationsBusinessman and Philanthropist

Sir Hugh Dixson (29 January 1841 – 11 May 1926) was an Australian businessman and philanthropist.

Biography

Dixson was born in George Street, Sydney, the son of Hugh Dixson and his wife Helen, née Craig.[1] He studied at the Elfred House Private School kept by William Timothy Cape at Paddington. At 14 years of age, Dixson worked at a timber yard for Phillip McMahon.[1] In 1866, he married Emma Elizabeth (1844–1922), daughter of William Edward Shaw.[2]

Philanthropy

In addition to seeking to fund a battleship for Britain, Dixson supported other patriotic causes. One such cause was the Legion of Frontiersmen, a patriotic, paramilitary organisation formed in Britain in 1905 by Roger Pocock, a former constable with the North West Mounted Police and Boer War veteran, to bolster the defensive capacity of the British Empire.

In 1900, Emma Dixson founded the Sydney Medical Mission, a service run by women for women of the poorer areas of the city.[3] She was a vice-president of the League of Boy Scouts,[4] and became the patron of the 1st Dulwich Hill Scout Group (known as "Mrs Emma Dixson's Own"),[5][6] donating the land and paying for the construction of the scout hall. Extensions to the scout hall were built in 1924 by the Dixson children, as a memorial to their mother.[6] In 1919, she gifted six houses in Surry Hills to the Royal Society for the Welfare of Mothers and Babies, to set up a model welfare centre.[7] It was opened in 1922, after Emma Dixson's death, by one of her daughters, and named the Emma Elizabeth Dixson Welfare Centre;[8] the day care centre which was part of it was known in abbreviated form as the Emma Dlxson Day Nursery.[9] She was a life governor of the Queen Victoria Homes for Consumptives,[2] the Crown Street Women's Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital[2] and of The Infants' Home Child and Family Services;[2] president of the women's branch of the Empire League,[2][10] and after its reorganisation, a life vice-president of the British Empire League in Australia;[2][11] the National Council of Women of New South Wales, and the Victoria League; president of the women's auxiliary of the Sydney City Mission; the only female patron of the Veterans' Home of New South Wales;[2] and vice-president of the New South Wales Home for Incurables, Ryde (to which they gave £20,000), and the Fresh Air League.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c B. Cook (1981). "Dixson, Sir Hugh (1841–1926)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 8. Melbourne University Press. pp. 308–310. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "OUR PUBLIC WOMEN. MRS. HUGH DIXSON". The Daily Telegraph. No. 11175. New South Wales, Australia. 17 March 1915. p. 6 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Sydney Medical Mission. Mrs. Hugh Dixson's Gift". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 19, 560. 20 November 1900. p. 3 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "MRS. HUGH DIXSON IN ENGLAND". The Sunday Times. No. 1262. New South Wales, Australia. 27 March 1910. p. 19 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ Meader, Chrys (June 2010). "Dulwich Hill". Sydney Journal. 2 (2): 50–51. doi:10.5130/sj.v2i2.1502. ISSN 1835-0151.
  6. ^ a b "Untitled". Sydney Mail. Vol. XXV, no. 638. New South Wales, Australia. 18 June 1924. p. 37 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "MODEL WELFARE CENTRES Mrs. Hugh Dixson's Generosity". The Sunday Times. No. 1751. New South Wales, Australia. 10 August 1919. p. 15 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "INFANT WELFARE New Surry Hills Centre". Sunday Times. No. 1898. New South Wales, Australia. 11 June 1922. p. 11 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "EMMA DIXSON DAY NURSERY". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 28, 812. 9 May 1930. p. 4 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "FOR WOMEN. BRITISH EMPIRE LEAGUE. WELCOME TO MRS. HUGH DIXSON". The Daily Telegraph. No. 8972. New South Wales, Australia. 3 March 1908. p. 3 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "WELCOME TO MRS. HUGH DIXSON". Evening News. No. 12, 709. New South Wales, Australia. 4 March 1908. p. 9 – via National Library of Australia.
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