Frederick Illingworth

As a young man he worked as an ironmonger at Brighton, Melbourne, and he later acquired pastoral land at Yalook.

Having been elected to the Victorian Legislative Council for Northern Province in July 1889, Illingworth was granted leave of absence from parliament in 1890 for "a business trip to Europe", but left the ship in Perth, Western Australia, and his seat was declared vacant in the following year, for non-attendance.

[2] In Western Australia, Illingworth established himself as a land and estate agent, and invested in a number of mines in the Murchison district.

That in turn was abolished at the election of 24 April 1901, so Illingworth contested and won the seat of Cue.

Defeated for Cue by Edward Heitmann in the election of 27 June 1904, he successfully contested the seat of West Perth on 27 October 1905, holding it until his resignation on 13 August 1907.

From August 1900 until May 1901, he was Leader of the Opposition, and was accordingly called upon to form a government when Forrest's successor George Throssell resigned as premier in May 1901.