Family background
William George Yeates was born at London England in 1835, son of George Yeates and Lucy. In 1859 he married Jane Murphy at Sydney. He died at Glebe on 24 June 1894, aged 59 years. Jane Yeates died 3 October 1911, aged 72 years.
Occupation & interests
Yeates described himself as a Forest Lodge produce merchant when first elected to Glebe Council. In later years he gave his occupation as commission agent at Sandgate, 56 Westmoreland Street Forest Lodge. He left an estate of 4,610 pounds sworn for probate purposes.
Community activity
Yeates was a foundation member of Glebe Masonic Lodge in 1881 and also a member of No 54 Diamond Loyal Orange Lodge. A feature of Yeates’s term as mayor in 1892 was friction with several councillors who took exception to the abrasive manner in which he conducted meetings, resulting in councillors leaving the chambers, or meetings lapsed for want of a quorum.
Local government service
Yeates was an alderman on Glebe Council for two terms: 1877-79 and 1887-94. He was mayor in 1892. Local works were brought forward by Glebe Council to generate employment during the mayoralty of W G Yeates in 1892 because ‘there existed much distress among working people of the Glebe’. Glebe Council heard that ‘in many instances the people had to do almost without the necessaries of life’.
References
Sydney Morning Herald, 20 January 1887, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13625277
Sydney Morning Herald, 17 June 1892, p. 2, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13868945
Sydney Morning Herald, 26 June 1894, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13957051
Sydney Morning Herald, 26 June 1894, p. 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13957133
‘Death of a Glebe Alderman’, Evening News, 25 June 1894, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114084039