George FORSYTH (1818

George FORSYTH (1818 - 1887)

storekeeper and commission agent, mayor of Wagga

Children	Self + Spouses	Parents	Grandparents	Greatgrandparents
George FORSYTH (1852 - 1854) Thomas James FORSYTH (1854 - 1855) Isabella FORSYTH (1860 - 1861) Margaret Anne FORSYTH (1862 - 1935)	George FORSYTH (1818 - 1887) + Margaret Annie GORDON (1819 - 1890)

b. 25 Feb 1818 at South Shields, Durham, England

m. 31 Dec 1851 Margaret Annie GORDON (1819 - 1890) at Tarcutta Lower, New South Wales, Australia

d. 26 May 1887 at Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia aged 69

Near Relatives of George FORSYTH (1818 - 1887)
Relationship	Person	Born	Birth Place	Died	Death Place	Age
Father in Law	Samuel Peter GORDON	1770	Tassagh, Co Amagh, Northen Island	1839	Tassagh, Co Amagh, Northen Island	69
Mother in Law	Jane ACHESON	1777		10 Nov 1857	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	80

Self	George FORSYTH	25 Feb 1818	South Shields, Durham, England	26 May 1887	Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia	69

Wife	Margaret Annie GORDON	1819	Co Armagh, Northern Ireland	18 Mar 1890	Narrandera, New South Wales, Australia	71

Son	George FORSYTH	12 Oct 1852	Tarcutta Lower, New South Wales, Australia	1854	Tarcutta Lower, New South Wales, Australia	2
Son	Thomas James FORSYTH	26 Aug 1854	Tarcutta Lower, New South Wales, Australia	11 May 1855	Tarcutta Lower, New South Wales, Australia	0
Daughter	Isabella FORSYTH	Mar 1860	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	05 Sep 1861	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	1
Daughter	Margaret Anne FORSYTH	1862	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	1935		73

Nephew	Samuel GORDON	25 Aug 1850	Bundarbo, New South WAles, Australia	06 Jul 1917	Gocup, New South Wales, Australia	66
Niece	Jane GORDON	1859	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	1939		80

Brother in Law	Robert GORDON	1808	Tassagh, Co Amagh, Northen Island	10 Dec 1888	Walgett, New South Wales, Australia	80
Brother in Law	John GORDON	1815	Tassagh, Co Amagh, Northen Island	Jun 1889	London, Middlesex, England	74
Brother in Law	Thomas Acheson GORDON	1821	Co Armagh, Northern Ireland	1907		86

Events in George FORSYTH (1818 - 1887)'s life
Date	Age	Event	Place	Notes	Src
25 Feb 1818		George FORSYTH was born	South Shields, Durham, England
31 Dec 1851	33	Married Margaret Annie GORDON (aged 32)	Tarcutta Lower, New South Wales, Australia
12 Oct 1852	34	Birth of son George FORSYTH	Tarcutta Lower, New South Wales, Australia
1854	36	Death of son George FORSYTH (aged 2)	Tarcutta Lower, New South Wales, Australia
26 Aug 1854	36	Birth of son Thomas James FORSYTH	Tarcutta Lower, New South Wales, Australia
11 May 1855	37	Death of son Thomas James FORSYTH	Tarcutta Lower, New South Wales, Australia
Mar 1860	42	Birth of daughter Isabella FORSYTH	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
05 Sep 1861	43	Death of daughter Isabella FORSYTH (aged 1)	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
1862	44	Birth of daughter Margaret Anne FORSYTH	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
26 May 1887	69	George FORSYTH died	Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia

Personal Notes:

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/forsyth-george-3556
George Forsyth (1817–1887)
George Forsyth (1817-1887), store-keeper and stock and station agent, was born at South Shields, County Durham, England, son of James Forsyth, shoemaker, and his wife Isabella, née Williamson. He arrived in Sydney in the early 1840s and for some years superintended a station on the lower Murrumbidgee River. In 1850 Forsyth with his brother Thomas established a store where the Port Phillip road crossed Tarcutta Creek near its junction with the Murrumbidgee. There on 31 December 1851 he was married by Bishop William Grant Broughton to Margaret Anne, sister of John Gordon, a neighbouring pastoralist. In 1855 Forsyth bought a store in Wagga Wagga, then a thriving village of about 300 people. In the next twenty-one years the town's population grew to 3000 and the district prospered, and G. Forsyth & Co. developed a large wholesale and retail business. The firm was a 'universal provider' ever ready to diversify and in 1868 set up a bonded store for wholesale trading. In the gold rush G. Forsyth & Co. established a stock and station agency to capitalize on the thousands of stock passing southward through Wagga Wagga to the markets of Bendigo and Melbourne. In the Goulburn Herald, 1856, the firm advertised monthly sales because the travelling stockholders were often willing to sell on the hoof. In the late 1860s the firm of Wilkinson & Lavender emerged from G. Forsyth & Co.

For over twenty years Forsyth was also a civic leader in Wagga Wagga. He was prominent in the establishment and management of the Mechanics' Institute, the hospital, the National school and the Presbyterian Church and was a founding director of the Wagga Wagga Bridge Co. which built the toll bridge across the Murrumbidgee in 1862. He was voted to the chair at many meetings and in 1870-74 he was first mayor of Wagga Wagga. In these faction-ridden years Forsyth was respected for his integrity. In 1876 when he decided to leave the town the Wagga Wagga Advertiser suggested that local residents plan 'a right royal parting testimony to the worth of our good King George'. In 1876 Forsyth retired to his property near Yarrangobilly and about 1880 moved to South West Rocks on the Macleay River. He died aged 70 in Kempsey on 26 May 1887 and was buried at Frederickton by a Wesleyan minister. He was survived by his widow and only daughter.

Source References:

90. Type: Book, Abbr: History of Wagga, Title: A History of Wagga Wagga, Auth: Keith Swan, Date: 1970

- Reference = p55, 61, 100, 104-5, 116-7 (Name, Notes)

- Notes: By 1855 and 1856 stock sales began in and near Wagga Wagga, although it could not yet rival Deniliquin which was so much closer to the Victorian goldfields. Stockowners, however, began to advertise that they would sell sheep or cattle on the road from Yass or Bathurst to Port Phillip via Wagga Wagga and Maiden's Punt (Echuca). One enterprising storekeeper and commission agent, George Forysth, capitalized on this trend. He advertised that he would sell horses, spring carts, drays and other vehicles during race week, and also noted that he would conduct stock sales every month.
George Forsyth said that he was doing this because 'the stockholder travelling with his flocks and herds from the far north to the markets of Bendigo and Melbourne' was often willing to sell his stock on the hoof. As he frequently met buyers from the Beech-worth and Albury markets, Forsyth said he would strive 'to meet our friends half-way by bringing the butcher and grazier together'

George Forsyth was a notable man who later was elected the first mayor when the borough was incorporated in 1870. He was a native of South Shields, Durham, England; came to Australia in about 1840 and managed a pastoral run in the Murrumbidgee Pastoral District for John Tooth; opened a retail store with his brother Thomas at Lower Tarcutta about 1850; and married Margaret Annie Gordon, sister of John Gordon of Borambola pastoral run, on 31 December 1851. He dissolved partnership with his brother before entering business in Wagga Wagga where he was immediately successful. He arrived when business had begun to boom, but this is not to deny his efficiency and initiative. He was quick to perceive an advantage, as shown by his early conduct of stock sales.

104-5 George Forsyth, whose long experience as an importer reached back into the 1850s, also became a wholesaler distributor in 1868 when he opened his Bonded Store in Kincaid Street, In those days of inter-colonial jealousy the New South Wales government by allowing this store, displeased the Victorians who thereby lost border duties. The amount of duties certainly increased each month during the first quarter—£73 4s 2d in October 1060; £208 1/s 40 in November 1868; £451 15s 1ld in December 1868-arousing the comment that there would be a further increase 'as the storekeepers of the town and district become more and more alive to the advantage of the bonded system'.
Retail trade increased and diversified. Whereas in 1860 George Forsyth and F. A. Tompson dominated business and combined retailing with stock and station agency— they were truly universal providers - by the 1870s there were both general and specialized retail stores; and Tompson's Australian Warehouse closed by 1870, while Forsyth retired from business in 1876.

p116-7 The first aldermen and the offers they apponted were all well-known, some having resided in the town or district for thirty years or more. George Forsyth, Henry Moxham and Robert Nixon had each arrived about twenty years before, and F. A. Tompson who was appointed Council Clerk had first come to Eunonyhareenyha in 1832.
George Forsyth, elected Mayor at the first meeting on 20 June
1870 had then become the town's most prominent business man, developing during the 1860s the already well-established patterns of the 1850s. As wholesaler, retailer and stock and station agent he had been very successful, and he was revered in the community as a trustworthy leader. He was prominent in the 1860s in the affairs of the Mechanics' Institute, Hospital, Murrumbidgee Pastoral Association, Bridge Company, and indeed, in whatever organization needed him.
For about twelve months before the election of the first Council he was away from the town ill; in fact, he must have been nominated in his absence as an alderman. And when he returned to the town on 25 April 1870 he made a triumphal entry, described in this way:
On Monday Mr George Forsyth after an absence of more than twelve months returned to Wagga. Notwithstanding the heavy rain, a large number of persons, including most of the leading residents, went several miles out to meet him and escort him into the town. As the procession consisting of about a dozen buggies and several horsemen passed up Baylis Street, the balcones, verandahs, etc., were crowded and waving handkerchiefs and hearty cheers testified to the general delight at Mr Forsyth's restoration to health and to Wagga.
After being re-elected Mayor on four occasions George Forsyth decided not to stand in 1875, and left in the next year to live on a pastoral property in the Kiandra area. On that occasion the Wagga Wagga Advertiser wrote a long editorial praising his work and hoping that someone would plan 'a right royal parting testimony to the worth of our good King George' For several years he visited Wagga Wagga periodically, but about 1880 retired to live near his brother Thomas on the Macleay River, where he died in 1887.

Created on a Mac™ using iFamily for Mac™ on 2 May 2025