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William MacGregor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from William Macgregor)

The Right Honourable
Sir William MacGregor
GCMG CB AM FRSGS
11th Governor of Queensland
In office
2 December 1909 – 16 July 1914
MonarchsEdward VII
George V
Preceded byThe Lord Chelmsford
Succeeded bySir Hamilton Goold-Adams
60th Governor of Newfoundland
In office
1904–1909
MonarchEdward VII
Prime MinisterRobert Bond
Preceded byCharles Cavendish Boyle
Succeeded bySir Ralph Champneys Williams
Governor of Lagos Colony
In office
1899–1902
MonarchsVictoria
Edward VII
Preceded byHenry Edward McCallum
Succeeded byWalter Egerton
Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea
In office
1895–1897
MonarchVictoria
Preceded byHimself
as Administrator of British New Guinea
Succeeded byGeorge Le Hunte
Administrator of British New Guinea
In office
1888–1895
MonarchVictoria
Preceded byJohn Douglas
Succeeded byHimself
as Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea
Personal details
Born20 October 1846
Towie, Aberdeenshire,
Scotland, United Kingdom
Died3 July 1919(1919-07-03) (aged 72)
Berwickshire, Scotland, United Kingdom
SpouseMary Jane Cocks (1883–1919; his death)
Alma materUniversity of Aberdeen
University of Edinburgh
Viceregal styles of
Sir William MacGregor
Reference styleHis Excellency
Spoken styleYour Excellency

Sir William MacGregor, GCMG, CB, AM, PC, FRSGS (20 October 1846 – 3 July 1919)[1] was a Scottish colonial administrator who was Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea, Governor of Lagos Colony, Governor of Newfoundland and Governor of Queensland.

Early life

[edit]

MacGregor was born in Hillockhead, parish of Towie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the eldest son of John MacGregor, a crofter, and his wife Agnes, daughter of William Smith of Pitprone.[1] MacGregor was educated at the school at the Strathmore manse,[2] later a teacher at Tillyduke[3] and worked as a farm labourer.[1] Encouraged by his schoolmaster and the local doctor who recognised MacGregor's ability, he entered Aberdeen Grammar School in April 1866 and enrolled at the University of Aberdeen in October 1867. He graduated MB and CM of Aberdeen University in 1872, and obtained his MD in 1874. MacGregor also studied at Anderson's Medical College (LFPS) and the University of Edinburgh (LRCP). MacGregor then became a medical assistant at the Royal Lunatic Asylum, Aberdeen.[1]

Administrator and governor

[edit]

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]

Sir William MacGregor in ceremonial mantle as Governor of Queensland

Newfoundland (1904–1909)

[edit]

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.[5]

Queensland (1909–1914)

[edit]

On 2 December 1909 MacGregor was appointed Governor of Queensland.[6]

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.[7][8][9] The building (now heritage-listed) at Clifton Street was close and to the west of the general hospital.[10] The Institute had been in existence for several years prior,[11][12] and the Governor had visited the facility several times prior.[13]

He chaired the inaugural meeting of the Historical Society of Queensland in August 1913 and became its patron.[14][15][16]

MacGregor retired in July 1914 from the governorship.[17]

Later life

[edit]

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.[18] She was reported to have been the first Caucasian female born in Fiji.[18] Two of the daughters were given to be born in Fiji.[19] 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 Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1881, advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1889, made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1897, upgraded to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1907, and was made a privy councillor in 1914. He had the honorary degrees of DSc Cambridge,[20] and LL.D. Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Queensland.

In 1914 MacGregor retired and went to live on the estate 'Chapel-on-Leader'[21] (near the River Leader, half-way between Lauder and Earlston, Berwickshire, Scotland).

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.[22] After an operation for intestinal adhesions and gallstones MacGregor died on 3 July 1919,[2] was cremated,[21] and interred beside his parents in the churchyard of Towie,[1] the village where he was born. Lady Mary MacGregor died in December 1919.[21]

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.[21] 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,[23] and Macgregor, Canberra.

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 R. B. Joyce, 'MacGregor, Sir William (1846–1919) ', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974, pp 158–160. Retrieved 29 September 2009
  2. 1 2 3 "Sir William MacGregor". Sunday Mail (Brisbane). No. 266. Queensland, Australia. 1 July 1928. p. 28. Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ Serle, Percival (1949). "MacGregor, William". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 29 September 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "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.
  5. ↑ "Reminiscences". Cairns Post. Vol. XXXII, no. 34[?]5. Queensland, Australia. 26 August 1919. p. 7. Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "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.
  7. ↑ "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.
  8. ↑ "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.
  9. ↑ "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.
  10. ↑ "Townsville Tropical Institute". Cairns Post. Vol. XXVI, no. 1412. Queensland, Australia. 12 September 1912. p. 3. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ↑ "Institute of Tropical Medicine". The Queenslander. No. 2168. Queensland, Australia. 28 September 1907. p. 32. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ↑ "Tropical diseases". West Gippsland Gazette. No. 573. Victoria, Australia. 25 May 1909. p. 6 (Morning.). Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ↑ "The Governor at Townsville". Daily Mercury. No. 1482. Queensland, Australia. 30 June 1910. p. 6. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ "Historical Society of Queensland". The Brisbane Courier. Brisbane, Queensland: National Library of Australia. 22 April 1913. p. 6. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  16. ↑ "Historical Society". The Brisbane Courier. Queensland: National Library of Australia. 22 August 1913. p. 4. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  17. ↑ "Sir Wm. MacGREGOR". Warwick Examiner and Times. No. 4629. Queensland, Australia. 31 October 1914. p. 2. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. 1 2 "Death of Lady MacGREGOR". The Queenslander. No. 2780. Queensland, Australia. 13 December 1919. p. 12. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ↑ "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.
  20. ↑ "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.
  21. 1 2 3 4 "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.
  22. ↑ "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.
  23. ↑ "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

[edit]
  • R. B. Joyce, Sir William MacGregor (Oxford University Press, 1971)
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_MacGregor&oldid=1375422759"