Ephraim Zox

Background

Zox was born in Liverpool, England, son of Eliazer Laman Zox (d1882), proprietor of a large cap-making business.

Career

Zox represented the Legislative Assembly seat of East Melbourne from 1877 until 1899. A conservative, he opposed payment of members and protection amid the bitter party strife which accompanied Sir Graham Berry"s second government, and such measures as income tax and female suffrage in the 1890s. A supporter of the coalitions of the 1880s and of Sir James Patterson"s ministry, he was more consistent and predictable than many of his contemporaries.

Good natured, genial and popular, he spoke in parliament in a typically bantering style, and his puns were a byword, but he was less at ease on serious subjects.

Zox was president of the Melbourne Hebrew congregation in 1883-1885, treasurer of the Melbourne Hebrew School in 1883 and president of the Melbourne Jewish Club in 1885. In 1890 he chaired a meeting of the Melbourne branch of the Anglo-Jewish Association of London which protested against Jewish persecution in Russia.

Prominent in the Manchester Unity Order of Oddfellows, he was a justice of the peace from May 1874. Zox suffered financial reverses in the early 1890s, but was still known for his earnest devotion to charitable movements and for his ready assistance to "forlorn wayfarers".

He was a keen student of Shakespeare and stories were told of his remarkable aptitude for arithmetic.

Aged 62, he died in a private hospital at Street Kilda of pneumonia brought on by influenza. He was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.

Membership

He was a "useful and painstaking" chairman of the royal commissions on asylums for the insane and inebriate (reported 1884-1886), on banking laws (1887) and on charitable institutions (1890, 1891, 1895). He was also a member of the commissions on the working of the Friendly Societies Statute (1875-1877) and the tariff (1881-1883). He was vice-president of the Discharged Prisoners" Aid Society from 1885 and chairman in 1898-1899, a director of the Royal Humane Society of Australasia and a board member of several hospitals.

Connections

Partner:

Street West