Edward Neale Wigg (1847 – 12 December 1927), commonly referred to as E. Neale Wigg, was a prominent

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n businessman. He operated a successful bookshop and stationers started by his father, known as ES Wigg & Son, and later was a major investor or director in many important Australian mining companies, notably

BHP BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

Early life

Wigg was born in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, England, son of Edgar Smith Wigg (7 June 1818 – 15 October 1899) of

Tunstall, Suffolk Tunstall is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. There are two settlements named Tunstall next to each other, north east of Woodbridge. However, these are not two separate villages but one, despite the gap between the main village ...

. The family emigrated to Australia in May 1849, and Edgar founded a successful stationery and book shop at 12

Rundle Street Rundle Street, often referred to as "Rundle Street East" as distinct from Rundle Mall, is a street in the East End of the city centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It runs from Pulteney Street to East Terrace, where it becomes Ru ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. Edward and his younger brothers

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

and Henry studied at

John Lorenzo Young John Lorenzo Young (30 May 1826 in London – 26 July 1881 at sea) was an English-Australian educationalist and founder of the Adelaide Educational Institution. History Young was born in London, a son of John Tonkin Young (1802 – 10 April 1 ...

Adelaide Educational Institution Adelaide Educational Institution was a privately run non-sectarian academy for boys in Adelaide founded in 1852 by John Lorenzo Young.B. K. Hyams'Young, John Lorenzo (1826–1881)' ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 6, Melbourne Uni ...

Bookselling interests

Edward joined his father’s business in 1867, when it became known as ES Wigg & Son. They bought out rival Charles Platts, becoming South Australia's largest bookseller. The Wiggs soon resold Platts' shop to John Howell, who died a few years later. ES Wigg & Son expanded its manufacturing facilities, opened another shop in Apollo Place, and added artists' supplies and educational material to its catalogue. They expanded their manufacturing facilities, opened another shop in Apollo Place, and added artists' supplies and educational material to their catalogue. By 1885, the elder Wigg retired. William Laidlaw Davidson (1853-25 October 1924), who married his daughter Mary Jane Wigg (born 6 April 1860) on 1 September 1885, became manager. E. Neale Wigg remained head of the business. ES Wigg & Son opened branches in

Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

and

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

. In 1904, it built a factory at 79-85 Port Road,

Thebarton Thebarton ( ), formerly Theberton, on Kaurna land, is an inner-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of West Torrens. The suburb is bounded by the River Torrens to the north, Port Road and Bonython Park to the east, Kintore St ...

.Next generation steps in at ES Wigg & Son
Sprinter 28 November 2003 In 1910, E. Neale Wigg sold his interest in the company to the Davidson family, who retained the business name. In 1921, ES Wigg and Son moved to new premises at 65-69

Grenfell Street Grenfell Street () is a major street in the north-east quarter of the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. The street runs west-east from King William Street to East Terrace. Its intersection with Pulteney Street is formed by Hindmarsh Squa ...

, on the Coromandel Place corner.

Mining interests

E. Neale Wigg entered the mining business as a major investor in the Wirrialpa mine in 1887. He was elected chairman of directors of the Hale River Ruby Mine in 1888. He was a director of

from 1890 to 1906, and chairman of directors 1897-1899. As BHP chairman, he was responsible for hiring

Guillaume Delprat Guillaume Daniel Delprat CBE (1 September 1856 – 15 March 1937) was a Dutch-Australian metallurgist, mining engineer, and businessman. He was a developer of the froth flotation process for separating minerals. Delprat was born in Delft, t ...

, BHP's General Manager for over 20 years. He was also a director of the Lady Evelyn gold mine at Coolgardie, the Ivanhoe mine at Kalgoorlie, the Bon Accord Cape York Peninsula Syndicate, and

Mount Lyell Mining & Railway Company Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company was a Tasmanian mining company formed on 29 March 1893, most commonly referred to as ''Mount Lyell''. Mount Lyell was the dominant copper mining company of the West Coast, Tasmania, West Coast from 1893 to 1 ...

Personal

Wigg married Janet Davidson on 6 September 1871, just 17 days after she arrived on the ship ''City of Adelaide'' with her aunt and uncle. Their son Frank Morewood Wigg was born July 1872. He studied at

Prince Alfred College Prince Alfred College is a private, independent, day school, day and boarding school for boys, located on Dequetteville Terrace, Kent Town, South Australia, Kent Town, near the Adelaide city centre, centre of Adelaide, South Australia. One of th ...

and graduated MB and BCh at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

in 1900, but died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

a year later. His parents received the sad news as they were ''en route'' to England to see him. Apart from a few visits, they never returned to Australia, and around 1910 E. Neale Wigg changed his name to Edward Neale. He was a strong Anglican churchman and was elected synodsman for St Matthews Church at

Kensington, South Australia Kensington is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Norwood, Payneham & St Peters council area. Unlike the rest of the city, Kensington's streets are laid out diagonally. River Torrens#Tributaries, Second Creek runs through and und ...

every year from 1884 to 1887. He left the bulk of his wealth to the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

for medical research.Personal
''The Register'' 16 March 1928 p.8 accessed 20 April 2011

Sources

*http://cityofadelaide.org.au/janet-davidson-wigg.html

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wigg, Edward Neale Australian booksellers People educated at Adelaide Educational Institution 1847 births 1927 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in South Australia Colony of South Australia people People educated at Prince Alfred College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh