William MacGregor
Administrator of British New Guinea | |
---|---|
In office 1888–1895 | |
Monarch | Victoria |
Preceded by | John Douglas |
Succeeded by | Himself as Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea |
Personal details | |
Born | 20 October 1846 Towie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, United Kingdom |
Died | 3 July 1919 Berwickshire, Scotland, United Kingdom | (aged 72)
Nationality | British |
Spouse | Mary Jane Cocks (1883–1919; his death) |
Alma mater | University of Aberdeen University of Edinburgh |
Sir William MacGregor,
Early life
MacGregor was born in Hillockhead, parish of
Medical career
In February 1873 MacGregor became assistant medical officer at the Seychelles, and in 1874 he was appointed resident at the hospital and superintendent of the lunatic asylum at Mauritius. This brought him under the notice of Sir Arthur Gordon who was then governor of the island, and on Gordon being transferred to Fiji in 1875, he obtained MacGregor's services as chief medical officer of Fiji. There he had to grapple with a terrible epidemic of measles, which resulted in the death of 50,000 natives. In 1877 he was made receiver-general and subsequently a variety of other offices was added, including the colonial secretaryship. On more than one occasion he acted as governor, and was also acting high commissioner and consul-general for the western Pacific.
In 1884 the ship Syria, with
Administrator and governor
MacGregor was described as 'sincere, discriminating, and courageous'.[2] A linguist, MacGregor spoke Italian, French, and German;[4] in one instance when with the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand (1863–1914) in the Territory of Papua, he translated from a German officer to the Italian cook on instructions to cook a wallaby.[4]
British New Guinea (1888–1898)
MacGregor's experience with native races led to his being appointed administrator of
Administrator MacGregor was appointed lieutenant-governor on 13 March 1895, and retired from this position on 10 September 1898.[5]
Lagos Colony (1899–1904)
From 1899 to 1904 he was governor of
Newfoundland (1904–1909)
He had been transferred in 1904 to Newfoundland Colony of which he was governor for five years. Here again his medical knowledge was most useful in the combating of tuberculosis which was then very prevalent in Newfoundland. He also did valuable work in dealing with the fisheries question, persuading the contending parties to refer the dispute to the Hague international tribunal which brought about an amicable settlement.
During his term MacGregor saw a general election where two political parties were returned in equal number. The premier Sir Robert Bond sought a dissolution before the House had sat. MacGregor refused. At the House's first sitting, Bond made an unsuccessful motion to nominate a Speaker, then demanded a dissolution. Having suffered a defeat, Governor MacGregor suggested Bond should resign. Sir Edward Morris went to form a ministry, also suffered a majority defeat for chair. With a second general election, Morris was returned with a good majority. MacGregor's actions were approved by many authorities on the subject.[7]
Queensland (1909–1914)
On 2 December 1909 MacGregor was appointed Governor of Queensland.[8]
MacGregor assisted in the inauguration of the
On Saturday, 28 June 1913, going to Townsville in northern Queensland, as a pioneer of tropical medicine himself, Governor MacGregor formally opened the new £2,757 two-storey building for the Institute of Tropical Medicine.[9][10][11] The building (now heritage-listed) at Clifton Street was close and to the west of the general hospital.[12] The Institute had been in existence for several years prior,[13][14] and the Governor had visited the facility several times prior.[15]
He chaired the inaugural meeting of the Historical Society of Queensland in August 1913 and became its patron.[16][17][18]
MacGregor retired in July 1914 from the governorship.[19]
Later life
He married in 1883 to Mary Jane, daughter of Levuka (Fiji) harbourmaster Captain Robert and Annie Cocks; who survived him with one son and three daughters. They met when he was the Administrator of British New Guinea.[20] She was reported to have been the first Caucasian female born in Fiji.[20] Two of the daughters were given to be born in Fiji.[21] Lady MacGregor had nearly lost her life to fever on her first visit to her husband when he was the Governor of the Lagos Colony.[4]
He was created a
Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Queensland.In 1914 MacGregor retired and went to live on the estate 'Chapel-on-Leader' he was able to do a certain amount of war work, and also lectured on his experience of German rule in the Pacific.
MacGregor found his final year to be 'sorrowful', with the deaths of his son-in-law Admiral Sir Alfred Paget on 17 June 1918 of bronchitis, and Paget's wife and MacGregor's daughter Alpina 'Viti' Paget on 13 September 1918.[24] After an operation for intestinal adhesions and gallstones MacGregor died on 3 July 1919,[2] was cremated,[23] and interred beside his parents in the churchyard of Towie,[1] the village where he was born. Lady Mary MacGregor died in December 1919.[23]
From his will, he bequeathed his ethnological and ornithological collections to the University of Aberdeen, and his banner from Saint Paul's Cathedral to the University of Queensland.[23] In earlier years from his Papuan times, ethnological specimens were collected and presented to the Queensland Museum, bird specimens to the museum in Sydney, and a collection of flora to the botanical department in Melbourne; the latter indicated to have made the botanist Baron Von Mueller 'wildly enthusiastic'.[4]
Two Australian suburbs are named after him: MacGregor, Brisbane,[25] and Macgregor, Canberra.
References
- ^ a b c d e f R. B. Joyce, 'MacGregor, Sir William (1846–1919) Archived 12 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974, pp 158–160. Retrieved 29 September 2009
- ^ Sunday Mail (Brisbane). No. 266. Queensland, Australia. 1 July 1928. p. 28. Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Serle, Percival (1949). "MacGregor, William". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 29 September 2009.
- ^ a b c d e "Late Sir William MacGREGOR". Daily Mail (Brisbane). No. 5220. Queensland, Australia. 12 July 1919. p. 12. Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ a b "Death of Sir William MacGregor". Papuan Courier. Vol. 9, no. 30. International, Australia. 25 July 1919. p. 5. Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "List of Past Gold Medal Winners" (PDF). Royal Geographical Society. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
- Cairns Post. Vol. XXXII, no. 34[?]5. Queensland, Australia. 26 August 1919. p. 7. Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Queensland's New Governor". The Telegraph (Brisbane). No. 11, 344. Queensland, Australia. 27 March 1909. p. 6. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Institute of Tropical Medicine, Townsville, recently opened by Sir William MacGREGOR". The Week (Brisbane). Vol. LXXVI, no. 1, 961. Queensland, Australia. 25 July 1913. p. 24. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Tropical medicine". Darling Downs Gazette. Vol. LVI, no. 462. Queensland, Australia. 28 June 1913. p. 6. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Institute of Tropical Medicine". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). No. 10, 624. New South Wales, Australia. 12 June 1913. p. 8. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- Cairns Post. Vol. XXVI, no. 1412. Queensland, Australia. 12 September 1912. p. 3. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Institute of Tropical Medicine". The Queenslander. No. 2168. Queensland, Australia. 28 September 1907. p. 32. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Tropical diseases". West Gippsland Gazette. No. 573. Victoria, Australia. 25 May 1909. p. 6 (Morning.). Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "The Governor at Townsville". Daily Mercury. No. 1482. Queensland, Australia. 30 June 1910. p. 6. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Peter Biskup, "The Politics of Preserving the Past: The Early Years of the Historical Society of Queensland", (1988) Royal Historical Society of Queensland Journal, Vol. 13, No. 8, p 289.
- The Brisbane Courier. Brisbane, Queensland: National Library of Australia. 22 April 1913. p. 6. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
- The Brisbane Courier. Queensland: National Library of Australia. 22 August 1913. p. 4. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
- Warwick Examiner and Times. No. 4629. Queensland, Australia. 31 October 1914. p. 2. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ a b "Death of Lady MacGREGOR". The Queenslander. No. 2780. Queensland, Australia. 13 December 1919. p. 12. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Portrait of Captain Robert Cocks, harbour master at Suva and father of Lady Mary McGregor". National Library of Australia. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
Cock's daugher [sic] Mary-Jane married Sir William MacGregor (1846-1919) in November 1883, becoming his second wife. They had two daughters who were born in Fiji.
- ^ "Sir William MacGREGOR". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). No. 4933. New South Wales, Australia. 13 April 1895. p. 4. Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ a b c d "Sir William MacGREGOR's will". The Queenslander. No. 2771. Queensland, Australia. 11 October 1919. p. 10. Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Sir William Macgregor". The Week (Brisbane). Vol. LXXXVII, no. 2, 259. Queensland, Australia. 11 April 1919. p. 30. Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Queensland place names search". Queensland Government (Department of Natural Resources and Mines). Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
Further reading
- R. B. Joyce, Sir William MacGregor (Oxford University Press, 1971)