Frederick Gonnerman Dalgety (Canada, 3 December 1817–London, 20 March 1894) was a merchant and financier, the founder of

Dalgety plc Dalgety plc—as Dalgety and Company—was for more than a century a major pastoral and agricultural company or stock and station agency in Australia and New Zealand. Controlled from London it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and Austr ...

, one of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's largest conglomerates. He was born in Canada to Alexander Dalgety, army officer, and his wife Elizabeth, née Doidge.

Career

Dalgety arrived at

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in Australia on 2 June 1834 (at the age of 16) in the ''Dryade'' and was an apprentice

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

in a local merchandising business, T. C. Breillat & Co,Frederick Dalgety at Australian Dictionary of Biography
/ref> a business that was just being set up by Thomas Chaplin Breillat. In December 1842 he moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, which had only recently been established, and became manager of a new wool trading firm.PIC International Group PLC
/ref> Between 1851 and 1855 he made about £150,000 from his gold speculations alone. At this time he lived at

Como House Como House is a historical house, with associated gardens in the City of Stonnington, Victoria, Australia. It was constructed in 1847 for Sir Edward Eyre Williams and now serves as a tourist attraction under the custodianship of the National T ...

in Melbourne which he bought in 1852, but sold it within a year.James Blackwood at Australian Dictionary of Biography
/ref> In 1859, he returned to live permanently in England at Lockerley Hall in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

and was appointed

High Sheriff of Hampshire This is a list of High Sheriffs of Hampshire. This title was often given as High Sheriff of the County of Southampton until 1959. List of High Sheriffs 11th and 12th centuries 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th ...

for 1877. In 1884, with advancing age, the increasing demand for capital and competition from joint-stock companies and banks, Dalgety incorporated his private partnerships as a joint-stock company, called

Dalgety & Co Dalgety plc—as Dalgety and Company—was for more than a century a major pastoral and agricultural company or stock and station agency in Australia and New Zealand. Controlled from London it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and Austra ...

, which was listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. By that time it had operations in London,

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

, Launceston,

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

and

Family

In December 1855 he married Blanche Trosse Allen and together they had five sons and five daughters, none of whom went into the business. She died on 11 April 1883. Dalgety died in

on 20 March 1894.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalgety, Frederick 1817 births 1894 deaths High sheriffs of Hampshire