Hugh Dixson

Sir Hugh Dixson (29 January 1841 – 11 May 1926) was an Australian business man and philanthropist.Dixson was born in George Street, Sydney, the son of Hugh Dixson and his wife Helen, née Craig.[1]

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Early life and education

He was educated at the Elfred House Private School kept by William Timothy Cape at Paddington. At 14 years of age, Dixson went to work at a timber yard for Phillip McMahon[1]. In 1856 he joined the tobacco business founded by his father, becoming a partner in 1864. The business grew steadily, and after the father's death in 1880 expanded rapidly under the management of Dixson and his brother Robert. It was subsequently merged in the British-Australian Tobacco Company Proprietary Limited, probably the largest business of its kind in Australia at the time.

Latter life

Dixson then retired, but with his wife, continued his interest in the Baptist Church and in various philanthropic institutions. An early substantial gift was £5000 as the beginning of a fund to present a battleship to England. This fund was not successful and his gift was devoted to educating English boys at Australian agricultural colleges. A gift of £10,000 helped the establishment of an aged and infirm ministers' fund in the Baptist Church, and much assistance was given to the building of churches in various parts of the state. A sum of £20,000 was used to build a cancer wing at the Ryde home for incurables. But the gifts of Dixson and his wife were both many and varied. Both worked on committees, and Dixson at various times was president of the Baptist Union, of the Baptist Home Mission Society, and of the Young Men's Christian Association. Dixson was a noted horticulturist, becoming a member of the Linnean Society of New South Wales in 1887 and the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science in 1898. Dixson died at Colombo on 11 May 1926. He was knighted in 1921. He married in 1866 Emma Elizabeth (died 1922) daughter of William Edward Shaw, and was survived by two sons and four daughters.

Dixson's elder son, Sir William Dixson (born 1870) made a remarkable collection of pictures, books, manuscripts, prints, maps and charts, relating to Australia, all destined to become the property of the state of New South Wales. A large collection of pictures was presented in 1929 and housed in the William Dixson gallery at the Mitchell library, Sydney. Dixson was knighted in 1939.

In addition to seeking to fund a battleship for England Dixson supported other patriotic causes. One such as the Legion of Frontiersmen: The Legion of Frontiersmen is 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. Prompted by pre-war fears of an impending invasion of Britain, the organisation was founded on a romanticized conception of the "frontier" and imperial idealism. Headquartered in London, branches of the Legion of Frontiersmen were formed throughout the empire to prepare patriots for war and to foster vigilance in peacetime. Despite persistent efforts, the Legion never achieved more than sporadic and tenuous official recognition, but it raised battalions and its members enlisted en masse at the onset of the First World War. Frontiersmen also served as special constables in London for the duration of hostilities. Wartime casualties devastated the Legion of Frontiersmen, and except for a brief resurgence in the interwar period, a series of schisms and sectarianism prevented attempts to reinvigorate the movement. Various Legion of Frontiersmen groups still exist throughout the Commonwealth, but as a whole, it has been unable to define its niche in the post-imperial world. The League of Frontiersmen purports to represent Frontiersmen worldwide through its International Frontiersmen Council.

Legion in NSW

A Maj.C A McBride a Dentist of Challis House, Martin Place in Sydney stated he was local HQ of the Legion with about 80 members in Sydney. In December 1911 Henry Frankford was made a Lt and took command of the NSW Units. A former soldier Frankfort soon begun a reorganisation of the NSW members.

President was Hugh Dixson Esq, two Vice Presidents were appointed Col K Mackay CB MLC and H D Morton Esq MLA. The real control however was held by Lt H L A Frankford his Org Off was 2nd Lt J Suffern the Sect. was 2nd Lt Albert J Fisher Asst Sect. was F/M L Borgnis. The Legion Taylor was F/M Geo Graham of 335a George St.

On the 8th of October 1912 Capt Henry Frankford, Commandant of the NSW Command did a tour of country units and inspected the Casino Troop. He expressed satisfaction at the progress of their work they had done and complimented the men on such. (From Jeff Henley, LF Hist & Research (AUST))

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