Background
Willox was born in Edinburgh, the son of the journalist John Willox who also wrote several books related to shipping.
Willox was born in Edinburgh, the son of the journalist John Willox who also wrote several books related to shipping.
His family moved to Liverpool, where he was educated at Liverpool College. Leaving school in his mid-teens, Willox was apprenticed to the journalists Lee and Nightingale.
He rose through the ranks to become the owner of the Liverpool Courier newspaper and sat in the House of Commons from 1892 to 1905. They seconded him to the Liverpool Courier, which was then published twice each week. He became a sub-editor, then a partner in Tinling & Company which owned the paper.
By 1863, aged only 21, he was the editors
Under Willox"s editorship, the paper promptly became a daily, with a Saturday Weekly Courier. The Evening Courier was established in 1870 and became the Evening Express.
He became a director of the company in 1885. She was a philanthropist, and 1897 she donated the £15,000 cost of constructing the Sanitorium for Consumptives at Delamere Forest in Cheshire.
Electricity
Willox took an interest in the commercial development of electricity, and became a director of several companies in that field
He became chairman of the Blackheath and Greenwich District Electric Light Company, and also of the New Street Helens and District Tramway Company and the South Lancashire Electric Traction and Power Company. Politics
Everton was a Conservative safe seat, which the party had held since its creation in 1885, and Willox was regarded as a strong candidate. The local Liberal Party therefore decided not to contest the election, and Willox was returned unopposed.
In honour of his election, over 100 journalists from Liverpool presented him with an illuminated address.
Willox was re-elected with a large majority at the general election in July 1892, and was returned unopposed in 1895 and 1900. He was knighted in Queen Victoria"s Diamond Jubilee Honours in 1897.
Sir John became seriously ill in late 1904. He resigned from Parliament in February 1905 by taking the Chiltern Hundreds, triggering another by-election.
He died on his 63rd birthday, 16 June 1905, at his home on Abercromby Square, Liverpool.
24th United Kingdom Parliament. 25th United Kingdom Parliament. 26th United Kingdom Parliament.
27th United Kingdom Parliament]
He was a member of the Institute of Journalists and chairman of the Press Association in 1875 and 1900.
When Edward Whitley, the Conservative Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Liverpool Everton died in January 1892, Willox was selected as the Conservative candidate for the resulting by-election.