William Kaye (Australian politician)

William Kaye (c.1820 – 10 May 1893) was a politician in colonial Victoria, member for Eastern Province in the Victorian Legislative Council.[1]

Kaye was born in Yorkshire, England, and arrived in Port Phillip District in February 1842.[1] He was a partner in a Melbourne firm of squatters' auctioneers, Kaye and Butchart.[2] He was elected to the first wholly elective Legislative Council for Eastern Province, sworn-in on 1 November 1856.[1] Kaye was disqualified from the Council on 1 February 1857 for bribery under the Election Act.[1] He had been found guilty by a committee of the Legislative Council following a petition by William Highett alleging that Kaye's payment of £200 to an election agent to campaign for him in the electorate had amounted to bribery; the payment was found to have "induced [the agent] to exert a corrupt influence upon the election, by other means than the giving of money".[2][3]