Edgar Smith Wigg
Edgar Smith Wigg was a South Australian bookseller and stationer, founder of the Adelaide firm E. S. Wigg & Son. It still operates under that name as of 2020, with branches across Australia.
Early life
A son of Richard Wigg, of Tunstall, Suffolk, 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. He married Fanny Neale Morewood of Atherstone, Warwickshire in September 1846. Their first child, Edward Neale Wigg, was born in 1847 and the family emigrated to the colony of South Australia shortly afterwards leaving on the William Hyde on 29 January 1849 and arriving in Port Adelaide in May 1849.E. S. Wigg & Son
Wigg rented a shop at 4 Rundle Street on 22 June 1849, where he started a business selling books and homeopathic medicine. Over time, he started manufacturing account books and educational materials.In August 1857 the business moved to larger premises at 12 Rundle Street. In 1867 Wigg bought another bookseller's business 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 London. 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 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.
After Wigg's death
The company continued to grow, with the head office moving to 65 Grenfell Street in 1921, which housed the retail business until into the 21st century, and was heritage-listed 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 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 in 1876 and lived in North Adelaide.- R Horace Wigg arrived in South Australia with his wife Elizabeth "Bessie" 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:
- Wolton Wigg married Sarah Thurlow in 1866 and was a brewer in Rushworth, Victoria.
- Mary Spencer, née Wigg was a sister.
Children of E. S. Wigg
- Edward Neale Wigg bookseller and chairman of directors BHP 1890-1913 Edward Neale Wigg married Janet N. Davidson on 6 September 1871.
- Jessie Ann
In November 1855 he married Jane Eccles ; they had two boys and four girls:
- Alfred Edgar Wigg, a prominent medical practitioner, married Edith Caroline Parnham on 24 June 1884.
- Henry Higham Wigg also a medical practitioner, married Lillie Margaret Melrose, 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's studies in Europe. Henry and Lillie had at least three children, Jean Melrose Wigg, Ronald Melrose Wigg and Neil Melrose Thorburn Wigg. Ronald Wigg married artist Mary Millicent Wigg 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 married William Laidlaw Davidson on 1 September 1885. Davidson's sister Janet had previously married Edward Neale Wigg.
- Ellen Deborah Wigg.
- Florence Fanny Wigg.
- Annie Adelaide Wigg married Frederick Allen Joyner on 28 September 1889.