Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Morgan, William (1829-1883)
MORGAN, Sir WILLIAM (1829–1883), South Australian statesman, son of an English farmer, was born in 1829 at Wilshampstead, near Bedford. In 1848 he emigrated with two brothers and a sister, and arrived in South Australia in February 1849. He took the first work that offered, but after a short experience of bush life became an assistant in the grocery store of Messrs. Boord Brothers. In 1851, at the time of the Victoria gold rush, he went with his brother Thomas to the Bendigo diggings, and, succeeding better than the majority, came back to Adelaide and rejoined the Boords, purchasing their business after a short time, and extending it till, under the title of Morgan & Co., it became one of the leading mercantile houses in the colony.
In August 1869 Morgan first entered political life, standing for election as member of the legislative council. In spite of the uncompromising independence of his views on the leases and other questions which were exciting popular attention, he was duly returned on 6 Aug. In the council his shrewdness and foresight rapidly brought him to the front. In 1871 he was chosen by the ministers to be one of the delegates of South Australia to the intercolonial conference, which opened at Melbourne on 18 Sept. On 3 June 1875 Mr. Boucaut was called on to form a ministry, and selected Morgan as chief secretary to represent the government in the legislative council. This was the government locally known as that 'of the broad and comprehensive policy.' Its schemes for the undertaking of new and large public works, and for the readjustment of taxation with a view to its fairer incidence on all classes, were the subject of fierce debate, and were rejected in two consecutive sessions by the council. In the midst of the fight (25 March 1876) Morgan had to retire from the ministry to attend to the extra pressure of business entailed by his purchase of a share in the Balade mines of New Caledonia. In February 1877, when his term in the council had expired, although his private affairs made him anxious to retire for a time from political life, he was returned to the legislative council at the head of the poll.
The new parliament met on 31 May 1877, and Morgan, after leading the attack on Sir Henry Ayers, the chief secretary in the Colton administration, was by a unanimous vote of the house required to assume the duties of its leader in the place of Ayers. The defeat of the Colton administration in the assembly also followed, and Boucaut formed a ministry in which Morgan was chief secretary (October 1877). In October 1878 Boucaut retired, and Morgan himself became premier, holding the office till June 1881, when he retired owing to pressure of private business. The chief measures which occupied his ministry related to taxation, the land laws, schemes for public works, and the settlement of the Northern Territory. In 1880 he attended the intercolonial conference at Melbourne. In May 1883 he left the colony on a short visit to England to recruit his health. On his arrival he was created K.C.M.G., but he died on 2 Nov. at Brighton. Both houses of parliament in South Australia adjourned on the receipt of the news. He was buried at his old home in Bedfordshire. He married in 1854 Harriett, daughter of T. H. Matthews of Coromandel, who, with five children, survived him.
Morgan's political career was stormy. He displayed much administrative capacity; was shrewd and honest, genial and loyal. He has been called the 'Cobden of South Australia.'
[South Australian Register, 10 Nov. 1883; South Australian Advertiser, 10 Nov. 1883.]