William Neville Harding
| William Harding | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 67th Lord Mayor of Sydney | |
|
In office 1 January 1945 – 31 December 1945 |
|
| Preceded by | Reg Bartley |
| Succeeded by | Reg Bartley |
| Alderman of the Sydney City Council | |
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In office 29 July 1935 – 31 December 1948 |
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| Chairman of the Sydney County Council | |
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In office January 1942 – January 1943 |
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| Preceded by | Stanley Parry |
| Succeeded by | Stanley Parry |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
4 January 1893 Sydney, Colony of New South Wales |
| Died | 31 March 1978 (aged 85) Wollstonecraft, New South Wales, Australia |
| Political party |
Citizens' Reform Association Democratic Party Liberal Party of Australia |
| Spouse(s) | Constance Algilvie |
| Children | David Bruce Harding (1918-1943) Ian Grant Harding 1 Daughter |
William Neville Harding (4 January 1893 – 31 March 1978) was a Taxation accountant, company director and New South Wales local government politician who was Lord Mayor of Sydney and an Alderman of the Sydney City Council from 1935 to 1948.
William Neville Harding was born in Sydney, Colony of New South Wales, on 4 January 1893, the son of William and Agnes Harding. Harding was educated at the University of Sydney and became a public accountant specialising in taxation, and a company director. On 3 August 1918 he married Constance Agilvie and had two sons and one daughter. From 1911 he was employed as a manager in his father's accountancy firm, but was dismissed in 1928 and later sued his father for unlawful dismissal. In 1929 a jury found in favour of Harding and awarded him £2000 in damages; however, his father appealed and the case was later settled out of court.
A prominent member of the Sydney business community, later rising to be president of the Electrical and Radio Development Association of NSW in 1941 and 1942, Harding joined the conservative, business-oriented Citizens' Reform Association. He first stood for the Sydney City Council at the municipal elections in December 1934 for Phillip Ward but was unsuccessful against Labor Party candidates Paddy Stokes and Ernest Charles O'Dea. However, when Alderman Richard Hagon retired from the council in July 1935 Harding stood as the Reform Association candidate at the resulting by-election in Macquarie Ward.
Elected on 29 July, Harding was a member of the Works and the Health and by-laws committees but dedicated most of his time towards the Finance Committee, serving in 1937, 1942–45 and 1946–48 and was the committee Vice-Chairman in 1942-44. Working on the consolidation at development of Sydney's electrivity supplies, Harding served as a Councillor on the recently established Sydney County Council from 1938 to 1944 and was its Chairman in 1942. In 1937, aware of the inadequate facilities of the City of Sydney Library located in the Queen Victoria Building, Alderman Harding put forward an ambitious proposal to council for the construction and development of a new city library building, complete with a museum and civic theatre. His plan however was not carried out due to the outbreak of war.
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