W. K. Simms

William Knox Simms (1830 – 25 December 1897) was a brewer, businessman and politician in the early days of South Australia.

Knox migrated to South Australia from England in, arriving in December 1845. In 1851 as partner with John Hayter in the firm of Simms & Hayter, he founded the Pirie Street Brewery, then in 1856 with the firm of W. K. Simms & Co., ran the Halifax Street Brewery, and in 1861 took over the famous West End Brewery, off Hindley Street near West Terrace, and built it up into a highly profitable business; from 1866 to 1879 with partner Edgar Chapman, and for a time operated the "Adelaide Brewery" in Waverley, Sydney with Hampton Carroll Gleeson. In 1888 the West End Brewery was taken over by the South Australian Brewing and Malting Company. That business later amalgamated with Edwin Smith's Kent Town Brewing Company, whose malt towers remain a prominent East Adelaide landmark. Simms remained a director of the company until his death, but his duties were not onerous, and his dividends immense.

In late 1853 Simms & Hayter took over the mail business of John and James Chambers, which proved highly profitable.

Broken Hill mine

He was a director of Equitable Fire Insurance Co.

In 1867 he was elected to the Adelaide City Council for the Gawler ward. He proved to be a popular representative and was elected to the House of Assembly in 1868 for the West Adelaide district, with H. R. Fuller as his colleague. The fifth Parliament was dissolved on 2 March 1870 and Simms did not stand for the ensuing election, but was again elected on 14 December 1871, with Judah Moss Solomon as colleague. On 10 February 1875 Simms was again elected, with Thomas Johnson filling the other seat. He resigned in June 1876, thus allowing John Darling, Sr., to take his place, but he won again in April 1878 in conjunction with Hugh Fraser. He finally retired from the Assembly in March 1881, when he was succeeded by C. C. Kingston. Simms remained out of Parliament until 28 February 1884, when he was a candidate at the first election for the Central district of the Legislative Council, his opponent being Philip Santo. Previously the Council had been chosen by the whole colony voting in one electorate, but by the Constitution Act of 1881 its strength was increased from 18 to 24 members, and it was divided into four electoral districts. The first vacancy under the new system was caused by the death of Sir William Morgan, and Simms won in a close and hard fought contest. He resigned from the Council on 14 April 1891. During his long period in politics he never sought a Cabinet position or personal gain, never engaged in party politics, and retained a high popularity with fellow members and electors alike.

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