William McGarvie (1810 – 1 April 1841) was a Scottish-born bookseller and newspaper owner, active in New South Wales.
McGarvie was born in Glasgow and worked on the Glasgow Herald; he followed his brother John McGarvie to New South Wales in 1828 aboard the Comet. He then ran the 'Australian Stationery Warehouse'.
With two employees from the Sydney Gazette Frederick Stokes and Alfred Ward Stephens, McGarvie imported a printing press in 1831 and commenced publication of the Sydney Herald. Its first edition was on 18 April 1831. Soon afterwards, McGarvie sold his share to his two other partners.
After a brief trip back to Scotland, McGarvie resumed bookselling at the Australian Warehouse. After contracting a severe cold, he died in Sydney aged 31 years and was survived by his wife, Isabella, and a three-week-old son. Isabella later remarried Dr Frederick Mackellar whose only son was Charles Mackellar, who in turn had a daughter, the poet Dorothea Mackellar.
References
- ^ J. V. Byrnes, 'McGarvie, William (1810 - 1841)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, MUP, 1967, pp 166–167. Retrieved 28 August 2014
- 1810 births
- 1841 deaths
- Australian newspaper editors
- Australian newspaper founders
- Businesspeople from Glasgow
- Scottish emigrants to Australia
- 19th-century British journalists
- 19th-century British newspaper founders
- Scottish newspaper founders
- Scottish male journalists
- 19th-century Scottish male writers
- Australian booksellers
- 19th-century Australian newspaper publishers (people)
- 19th-century Scottish newspaper publishers (people)