Person

William Knox D'Arcy

1849–1917 · 19th century

William Knox D'Arcy was a British businessman, enriched by gold mining in Australia, who in 1901 obtained from Mozaffar ad-Din Shah a sixty-year concession to search for oil across most of Iran. After years of costly drilling his company struck oil at Masjed Soleyman in 1908, leading to the founding of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the forerunner of BP.

William Knox D'Arcy
Image: Life magazine · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). William Knox D'Arcy. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/william-knox-darcy
MLA
“William Knox D'Arcy.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/william-knox-darcy. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “William Knox D'Arcy.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/william-knox-darcy.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘William Knox D'Arcy’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/william-knox-darcy (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻