George McCullagh Reed

George McCullagh Reed (1831 – 13 November 1898) was a New Zealand presbyterian minister, journalist and newspaper proprietor.

Reed was born in County Monaghan, Ireland in about 1831.[1] He received his education from Queen's College, Belfast, from where he graduated in 1856. He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister and went to France, Switzerland, and in 1857 to Victoria in Australia. From 1861, he was minister in Ipswich, Queensland, and it was there that he married Jessie Chalmers Ranken on 6 July 1863. He resigned from the ministry in 1866.[1] Reed was elected to the second Legislative Assembly of Queensland for the district of Ipswich in a ministerial by-election on 4 August 1866 and held this seat until the end of the parliamentary term on 19 June 1867.[2]

He set up, bought, or edited many newspapers. He set up the Evening Star in Auckland in 1870.[1] While living in Auckland, he was elected to the Auckland Provincial Council for the Takapuna electorate, and he served from 21 November 1873 until the abolition of provincial government on 31 October 1876.[3] He served on the executive council (10 December 1873 – 13 November 1874) and was provincial treasurer until his resignation from that post.[1][4]

In 1876, he established the Evening News in Dunedin. Some months later, he purchased a morning newspaper in Dunedin, the Otago Guardian, together with George Fenwick. The city could not sustain two morning papers and Fenwick and Reed bought their rival, the Otago Daily Times and its weekly, the Otago Guardian.[1]

After time in Ireland as New Zealand's immigration agent, he was leader writer for The Argus in Melbourne before joining The New Zealand Herald in 1883. He moved to the United Kingdom as the Herald's correspondent, and there he set up the Australian Times and Anglo-New-Zealander together with Robert Reid. Reed returned to Auckland and became editor of the Auckland Evening Bell. In 1889, he was editor of the Evening Standard in Melbourne. In the following year, he was editor for The Sydney Morning Herald. By 1895, he had returned to Auckland and rejoined The New Zealand Herald.[1]

Reed died in Auckland of a heart attack on 13 November 1898. He was survived by three sons, including Vernon Reed and John Reed, and two daughters.[1][5] He was buried in the Presbyterian section of the Symonds Street Cemetery.[6]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Rudman, Brian C. "George McCullagh Reed". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved December 2011.
  2. ↑ "Alphabetical Register of Members of the Legislative Assembly 1860–2012 and of the Legislative Council 1860–1922" (PDF). Parliament of Queensland. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  3. ↑ Scholefield 1950, p. 185.
  4. ↑ Scholefield 1950, p. 181.
  5. ↑ Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : M–Addenda (PDF) II. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. pp. 210f. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "Funeral of the late Mr. G. M. Reed". New Zealand Herald. 15 November 1898. p. 5. Retrieved 27 April 2015.

References

Parliament of Queensland
Preceded by
Ratcliffe Pring		 Member for Ipswich
1866–1867 		Succeeded by
John Murphy