Sir William Henry Spooner was born on 23 December 1897 in Sydney and educated at Christ Church School, Sydney. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 8 January 1915 and served in the 5th Australian Field Ambulance at Gallipoli in December that year and on the Western Front, where he was awarded the Military Medal in September 1917. He transferred to the Australian Flying Corps in 1918 and was discharged on 14 August 1919 with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.

On his return from the war, Spooner qualified as an accountant and, with his brother, founded the firm Hungerford, Spooner and Company (Chartered Accountants) in Sydney. He became interested in the United Australia Party and was later a foundation member of the Liberal Party, serving as its first NSW President and as Chairman of the federal Finance Committee (1945-49). He was also on the State Executive during his subsequent term of office in the Senate.

Spooner was elected a Senator for New South Wales in federal Parliament at the December 1949 general elections, taking his seat in February the following year. He held two portfolios in the Menzies Government, as Minister for Social Services (1949-51) and Minister for National Development (1951-64), during which time he was also Minister in Charge of War Service Homes (1951-63), and was Acting Minister for Trade and Customs during the absence overseas of Hon N O'Sullivan (1954-55). As Minister for National Development, Spooner oversaw significant changes in the mining industry, especially in relation to coal and uranium, and development projects in northern Australia. He was also a member of the Council of Defence (1951-64), President (Commonwealth Commissioner) of the River Murray Commission (1956-64) and Vice-President of the Federal Executive Council (1958-64). In Parliament, he was Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate (1956-59) and Leader of the Government in the Senate and a member of the Senate Committee on Standing Orders (1959-64). 

In 1959 Spooner was a member of the Australian Delegation to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference in Canberra. He represented Australia in Atomic Energy discussions in Britain, America, Japan, Canada and France in June and July 1960. In the absence of Sir Robert Menzies overseas in September 1962, he acted as Prime Minister. 

Sir William Spooner retired from Parliament in 1965. He was subsequently Chairman of various companies, including the Mutual Acceptance Company Ltd; Duly and Hansford Ltd and Hoechst Chemicals (Australia) Ltd and a Director of Mercantile and General Reinsurance Ltd. He was made a Knight Commander in the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1963 and a Privy Counsellor (PC) in 1966. He died in Sydney on 15 July 1966.

 
Sources

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 16, 1940-1980 'Pik-Z', pp 289-290
Who's Who in Australia 1950, p 667; 1965 p 796
Commonwealth Parliamentary Handbook 1962, pp 206-207; 1965, p 231
Commonwealth Gazette, No 98, 19 Dec 1949, pp 831, 3832; No 76, 11 Dec 1958, p 4250; No 2, 8 Jan 1959, p 93; No 53, 11 June 1964, p 2279
The Canberra Times, 28 Oct 1966