William Cargill

William Walter Cargill ( born August 27, 1784 in Edinburgh, Scotland; † August 6, 1860 in Dunedin, New Zealand), was a wine merchant, bank manager, captain in the British Army, colonialist in Otago and co-founder of Dunedin.

Life

William Cargill was born as the eldest son of William Cargill and Marion Jameson in a strict Calvinist family into it. He had four siblings, three brothers and one sister. His father was a lawyer and notary public for authenticating signatures, but later spoke to alcohol and died of alcoholism when William was 15 years old. His mother was the daughter of a stonemason from Edinburgh.

Even before his father's death the family lived in financially difficult circumstances. Nevertheless, his mother managed to give everyone a good education. Thus it was possible for William, from 1794 to 1797 to visit the renowned Royal High School in Edinburgh. After that, he was privately tutored. His tutor was Thomas Chalmers, mathematician and founder of the Free Church of Scotland. Chalmers, who was only four years older than William, was a friend of the family and was for William to model and protégé.

Military service

At age 18, on 21 May 1802 William joined with the support of his great-uncle Sir William Nicholson as an ensign in the 84th regiment of the British Army, came into the custody of Captain Grant, who gave him the transition from civilian life to military life a little hard facilitated.

After working in Bengal and in the Second Marathenkrieg he was wounded in the Battle of Busaco, 200 km north of Lisbon in Portugal, heavy and required a two-year recovery in order to return to his regiment in December 1812 can. It was probably due to his good constitution, that he survived because medical knowledge and care during this time were more than lacking.

After his return to his regiment in Sarzedas, district of Castelo Branco, he was very quickly promoted in the absence of officers, to captain. During his deployment time in the Iberian Peninsula, he married on 18 April 1813 in Porto his wife Mary Ann Yates ( 1790-1871 ), daughter of a naval officer and London actor. After another war missions was in June 1815 his Abkommandierung the Battle of Waterloo just before. But the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte and the peace treaty of the second Peace of Paris left him spared from further military deployments.

As a soldier, now already 37 years old, with five children and not just lush pay, he could allow his family no regular family life. So he allowed himself to pay off with a severance payment of £ 1,500 on 1 June 1820 and left the British army, but went on his acquired title Captain.

UK

After his discharge from the army, Cargill operated in Edinburgh as a wine merchant, gave the business in 1834 after some difficult years, and moved into banking. This was quite chaotic and organized to become a banker comparatively easy. He was appointed in 1836 as Director General of the East of England Bank ( 1836-1864 ), Norwich.

In 1841 he went to London to take a seat on the Board of Directors of the Oriental Bank Corporation ( 1845-1892 ), in which his eldest son had become general manager. Slightly frustrated about this position, he was looking for a slightly more challenging activity. About an article on colonization of New Zealand in the Colonial Gazette he was in 1842 George Rennie ( 1802-1860 ), sculptor and politician, attentive. He had played in the 1830s already with the idea of ​​emigrating to another country. At the time, Canada was on his wish list.

New Zealand

Now, almost 60 years old, was found at once the opportunity to go to New Zealand. 1843, due to questions of faith just the Free Church of Scotland broke away from the Church of Scotland, he came into contact with George Rennie. This promised to maintain a leadership role in the Scottish housing project in New Zealand.

Under the leadership of Thomas Chalmers, leader of the Free Church of Scotland, and inspired by Edward Gibbon Wakefield's ideas of systematic colonization, was William Cargill next to the Rev. Thomas Burns Head of the settlement project of the Free Church of Scotland in Otago, which had the task of founding of New Edinburgh, later Dunedin to make.

With the promise of £ 500 annual salary for his services to the New Zealand Company Cargill stabbed on November 24, 1847 96 settlers aboard the John Wickliffe in Lake. Thomas Burns followed with the Philip Laing. On March 23, 1848 reached Cargill Otago Harbour, established by the planning preparations by Frederick Tuckett and Charles Henry Kettle the port of Port Chalmers and Dunedin then, later the capital of Otago. From 1853 to 1860 was Cargill Superintendent of Otago, and from 1855 to 1860 a member of the Dunedin Country District.

William Cargill was probably the most prominent, most dominant and machtbesessenste politicians of his time in New Zealand. His stubborn Scottish character and style mostly amused the English -born observer, angry government officials, but found consensus among the Scottish settlers. With democratic structures, he had his problems. Criticism in the local press, he met with the establishment of a more well-disposed to him print medium. He was rumored, autocratic, to be inflexible and nepotistisch.

William Walter Cargill died a year before the start of the Otago Gold Rush on August 6, 1860 in Dunedin at a stroke. The gold rush following the chaotic times he would not have survived as a politician. Him the highest with 676 meters elevation Dunedin, 8 km northeast of the city center, Mount Cargill was named in honor. Governor Thomas Gore Browne honored him with naming Invercargill for the city was founded at the southernmost tip of the South Island of New Zealand.