William Divers

William Thomas George Divers (1 September 1896 – 29 June 1978) was an Australian politician.

He was born in Collingwood to brushmaker William Clinton Divers and Annie May Cozens. He attended the local state school and was a child actor until 1910. From 1910 to 1914 he was in the merchant navy; he served in the Royal Australian Navy from 1914 to 1918 during World War I and then returned to the merchant navy until 1920. In 1924 he married Ethelwynne Bowen, with whom he had two children; a later marriage on 5 November 1955 was to Lorna Jean Peters, née Forbes. He was an organiser with the Municipal Employees Union in 1925 and an industrial officer from 1928 to 1946, when he became state general secretary. A Labor Party member, he served on Essendon City Council from 1932 to 1946 and was mayor from 1936 to 1937. During World War II he served with the Royal Australian Air Force. Federal vice-president (1948–53) and president (1953–58) of the Municipal Employees' Union, he also served on state and federal Labor executives. In 1958 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Footscray. He served until his retirement in 1970. Divers died in Footscray in 1978.^[1]

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