Pollock, William Pegues
From 1891 to 1893 Pollock served as clerk of the Committee on the District of Columbia in the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. senator. Pollock was born near Cheraw in Chesterfield County on December 9, 1870, the son of Alexander A. Pollock and Rebecca Pegues. He attended local schools before entering law school at the University of South Carolina, where he graduated in 1891. Two years later Pollock won an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but he failed the physical examination. He married Bessie Salley of Orangeburg.
From 1891 to 1893 Pollock served as clerk of the Committee on the District of Columbia in the U.S. House of Representatives. Returning to South Carolina, he was admitted to the bar in 1893 and elected to the state House of Representatives the following year, where he represented Chesterfield County until 1898. He was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1900. He returned to the state House in 1902 and served through 1906. In 1910 he made an unsuccessful run for the U.S. House of Representatives. Four years later Pollock participated in a spirited U.S. Senate campaign against Ellison D. Smith, Lang Jennings, and Cole Blease. Although unsuccessful, his energetic campaign made Pollock a statewide figure. In 1918 the General Assembly elected Pollock to fill the vacancy in the U.S. Senate after the death of Benjamin Tillman. Taking his seat on December 2, 1918, Pollock chaired the Committee on National Banks and participated in the vote for the enfranchisement of women, which he supported. Following the end of his short interim term on March 3, 1919, he resumed his law practice. Pollock died on June 2, 1922, in Cheraw. He was buried in St. David’s Cemetery.
“Former Senator Dies in Cheraw.” Columbia State, June 3, 1922, p. 1.
