William Frederick Stock


William Frederick Stock, M.P., was a South Australian lawyer and politician, briefly Attorney-General of South Australia in 1892.

History

Stock was born in Clifton St Andrew, Gloucestershire, England, a son of Robert Stock and Caroline Stock, née Holland, and christened there on 3 September 1847. Stock was one of five children who with their widowed mother sailed to South Australia aboard Statesman, arriving in February 1850. He was educated at Adelaide Educational Institution and St Peter's College, Adelaide, and in England. He was admitted to the South Australian Bar in June 1871, and was three times Mayor of Glenelg in the late 1870s. He was President of the Railway Employees' Association.
In 1886 he entered into a limited form of partnership with his nephew Sydney Talbot Smith as Stock & Talbot Smith.
In 1887 he was elected to the seat of Sturt in the South Australian House of Assembly. In June 1892, on the accession to power of the Holder Ministry, Stock was appointed Attorney-General.
On 23 November 1913, Stock died at a private hospital in North Adelaide after a long illness.

Family

William Frederick Stock married Clara Graham on 16 April 1870; their children were:
  • Kathleen Clara Stock, married Francis James Roche on 14 November 1891 in Shanghai, and died in Auckland, New Zealand
  • Stella Denison Stock, married D'Arcy Talbot Bruce on 22 February 1894 in Surbiton, England ; married George Henry Priest Shanks in 1902 in Kensington, England; and died in Torquay, England
  • Vivien Grace Stock, married William Steele on 11 Sep 1897, and died in Goodwood, SA
William Frederick Stock was twice related by marriage to Edwin Thomas Smith, who married his sister, Florence Stock, on 25 June 1857; and then through Smith's second marriage to Elizabeth Spicer, when Stock married Elizabeth's sister Mary Haigh on 12 May 1909. Elizabeth and Mary were both daughters of early colonist Edward Spicer.

Tregenna

William Frederick Stock's mansion "Tregenna" on North East Road, Collinswood, set on and attributed to architect Edward Davies, was built in 1899-1900. Following Stock's death in 1913, his widow Mary Stock continued to reside there. During World War I she was a prominent worker for the Cheer-Up Society, and used the grounds of "Tregenna" to hold events such as gymkhanas and fetes for the Red Cross, as well as for growing vegetables and fruit to supply Cheer-up Hut events for thousands of soldiers.
"Tregenna" was put up for sale in June 1917, but after Mary Stock's death in August 1917, her daughter from her previous marriage, Alice Hill continued to live there with her own family until her own death. Alice's daughter May Hill continued living on the property, holding gymkhanas for the Adelaide Horse Riding Club and other charitable events into the early 1950s.
The property was sold to the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1957 and new buildings in the grounds were constructed for use as studios and broadcasting facilities for the ABS-2 television service for SA, which commenced in 1960. By 1969 other existing ABC facilities in Hindmarsh Square and Norwood were considered inadequate, and the decision was made to consolidate all services at Collinswood. The "Tregenna" mansion was demolished in 1970, and replaced by an 8-storey brutalist building, opened in 1974. The "Tregenna" name has been commemorated by the naming of the "Tregenna café" within the complex.