Edgar Smith Wigg (7 June 1818 – 14 September 1899) was a

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n bookseller and stationer, founder of the

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 ...

firm E. S. Wigg & Son. It still operates under that name , with branches across Australia.

Early life

A son of Richard Wigg (c. 1790–1856), 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 ...

, Edgard Smith Wigg commenced work as a bank clerk, at which time he developed a book club for the benefit of his fellow workers. Sensing an opportunity, he opened a bookshop 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 ...

. He married Fanny Neale Morewood of

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, Warwickshire in September 1846. Their first child,

Edward Neale Wigg Edward Neale Wigg (1847 – 12 December 1927), commonly referred to as E. Neale Wigg, was a prominent Australian businessman. He operated a successful bookshop and stationers started by his father, known as ES Wigg & Son, and later was a major in ...

, was born in 1847 and the family emigrated to the

colony of South Australia A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

shortly afterwards leaving on the "William Hyde" on 29 January 1849 and arriving in

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

in May 1849.

E. S. Wigg & Son

Wigg rented a shop at 4

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 ...

on 22 June 1849, where he started a business selling books and

homeopathic medicine Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths or homeopathic physicians, believe that a substance th ...

. Over time, he started manufacturing account books and educational materials. In August 1857 the business moved to larger premises at 12 (later renumbered to 14) Rundle Street.Out Among the People
''The Advertiser'' 17 June 1949 p.4 accessed 20 April 2011 In 1867 (or 1874?) Wigg bought another bookseller's business (Charles Platt) and became the largest bookseller in the colony, within a few years expanding the printing and manufacturing side of the business. Wigg also opened a pharmacy at 34 King William Street. In 1871 Edgar's son, Edward, married Janet Davidson, and a couple of years later, William Laidlaw Davidson emigrated to Adelaide and joined the company. In 1874(?) the company opened an office in

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. An additional premises, a warehouse, was opened at Apollo Place in the city. In 1885, Wigg’s daughter Mary married William Davidson, who by this time was managing the running of the business. The company opened branches in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

during this period, and, after E. S. Wigg died in 1899, business expanded further. In 1902 a factory was built on Port Road at Southwark (now

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 ...

and still in existence in 2016).

After Wigg's death

The company continued to grow, with the head office moving to 65

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 ...

in 1921, which housed the retail business until into the 21st century, and was

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on 1 November 2001. It is now known as Wiggs Building The company continued in the hands of the Davidson family until at least 2014, and is still registered as ES Wigg & Son Pty Ltd. The holding company owns a number of other businesses across the country, some registered as Wigg & Son, some as Wigg Packaging, and some with other names.

Other activities

Wigg served on

Adelaide City Council The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council, is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia. It is legally defined as the capital city of Sout ...

from 1871 to 1874 and from 1876 to 1880, then retired from business, handing it over to his eldest son E. Neale Wigg and his son-in-law W. L. Davidson. He maintained a close relationship with the North Adelaide Baptist Church and the Institution for the Blind. He died in 1899, aged 81.

Siblings of E. S. Wigg

Two brothers of E. S. Wigg migrated to Australia in the 1850s, as did a widowed sister, who arrived on the maiden voyage of the Clipper ''

Torrens Torrens may refer to: Places South Australia * Electoral district of Torrens, a state electoral district * Lake Torrens, a salt lake north of Adelaide * River Torrens, which runs through the heart of Adelaide * City of West Torrens, a local go ...

'' in 1876 and lived in North Adelaide. *R(ichard) Horace Wigg (c. 1822 – 25 September 1888) arrived in South Australia with his wife Elizabeth "Bessie" (c. 1824 – 26 May 1890) and son on the barque ''Lady Bruce'' in October 1853 and established a wholesale grocer's and wine and spirit store on King William Street, became "R. H. Wigg & Sons" in 1876. Their children included: :*Frederick Horace Wigg (1 February 1853 – 7 October 1924), J.P., married Julia Marianne Barber ( – April 1930) in 1876, :*Margaret Amelia Wigg (1854 – 2 August 1859) :*J(ohn) Richard Wigg (1856 – 26 April 1921) married Emily Margarette Frederica Barber on 4 December 1879. The Barber sisters were nieces, and wards, of J. W. Smith, American Consul in South Australia. :*Elizabeth Jane Wigg (1858–) :*Robert Wolton Wigg (1859 – 1 July 1943) married Ada Clarice Cutten in September 1882, lived in Victoria :*Edward Turner Wigg (1861 – 15 February 1885) :*Horace William Wigg (22 June 1865 – 5 January 1875) died after a fall at Waterfall Gully :They had a home "Woltonhurst", on the corner of Beulah Road and Kensington Terrace, Norwood. *Wolton Wigg (28 October 1826 – 7 November 1915) married Sarah Thurlow (1835 - 9 May 1906) in 1866 and was a brewer in

Rushworth, Victoria Rushworth is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located north of Melbourne and, at the 2021 Census, had a population of 1,411. History Rushworth was established during the Victorian gold rush in 1853. It was named by poet and later local G ...

. :*Edgar Wigg (1867 - 10 July 1919) *Mary Spencer, née Wigg (c. 1816 – 29 December 1882) was a sister.

Children of E. S. Wigg

With Fanny Neale Wigg (née Morewood) (c. 1823 – 1 April 1853): *

(1847 – 12 December 1927) bookseller and chairman of directors BHP 1890-1913 Edward Neale Wigg married Janet N. Davidson on 6 September 1871. :*Frank Morewood Wigg M.B., Ch.M. (Edinburgh)(c. 1873 – 23 January 1901) died of pneumonia in Edinburgh aged 28 *Jessie Ann (22 April 1852 – 17 May 1853) In November 1853 he married Alice (sometimes called Ann) Lane (c. 1819 – 13 January 1855) who came from

Boscombe Boscombe () is a suburb in Bournemouth England. Historically in Hampshire, but today in Dorset, it is located to the east of Bournemouth town centre and west of Southbourne. Originally a sparsely inhabited area of heathland, from around 1865 ...

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. They had no children. In November 1855 he married Jane Eccles ( – 22 July 1895); they had two boys and four girls: * Alfred Edgar Wigg (2 February 1857 – 1 May 1914), a prominent medical practitioner, married Edith Caroline Parnham on 24 June 1884. :*(Winifred) Olive Wigg (1885–1964) married John Stanley Murray (1884–1971) on 8 June 1910 *Henry Higham Wigg (18 July 1858 – 22 April 1950) also a medical practitioner, married Lillie Margaret Melrose (25 Mar 1870 – 10 March 1932), a daughter of George Melrose, on 29 April 1891. He was Health Officer for Unley Council and was one of four patrons, with brothers-in law W. L. Davidson and F. A. Joyner, and miner Charles Henry de Rose, who sponsored the 20-year-old

Hans Heysen Sir Hans Heysen (8 October 18772 July 1968) was an Australian artist. One of Australia's best known landscape painters, Heysen became a household name during his lifetime for his watercolours and oil paintings of the Australian bush, in pa ...

's studies in Europe. Henry and Lillie had at least three children, Jean Melrose Wigg, Ronald Melrose Wigg and Neil Melrose Thorburn Wigg. p. 48-49 Ronald Wigg married artist Mary Millicent Wigg (nee Lamphee 1901-2004) on 20 June 1931 and they had three children, Helen, Hugh and Philip. She illustrated the book ''E.S. Wigg and his Successors''. The most famous was an oil painting of the original farm of Edgar Smith in the United Kingdom. *Mary Jane Wigg (6 April 1860 – ) married William Laidlaw Davidson (1853-1924) on 1 September 1885. Davidson's sister Janet had previously married Edward Neale Wigg. *Ellen Deborah Wigg (9 January 1863 – 9 March 1954). *Florence Fanny Wigg (29 May 1864 – February 1940). *Annie Adelaide Wigg (28 January 1867 – 14 August 1949) married Frederick Allen Joyner (c. 1864 – 15 December 1945) on 28 September 1889. Their home for many years was at Lefevre Terrace Medindie. He bought the land in 1851 and had a cottage built there.

Bibliography

The book ''E.S. Wigg and his successors'' (1992) is the history of the Wigg family. It contains 24 leaves of plates, many coloured. Several of these plates are works by the artist Mary Millicent Wigg (1904-2001), who married Ronald Melrose Wigg in 1931.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wigg, Edgar Smith Australian booksellers 1818 births 1899 deaths Colony of South Australia people