George McCulloch (mine owner)
Encyclopedia
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
.
George's father died when he was one year old. As a young man George went to South America where his brother John was a stockman and then to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1872, where his cousin Sir James McCulloch
James McCulloch
James McCulloch is also the name of the cashier of the Baltimore branch of the Second National Bank of the United States. This James McCulloch was not involved in the McCulloch vs. Maryland U.S. Supreme Court case....
was a prosperous merchant and politician.
About 1875, his cousin gave him a job as Manager and one eighth share of the Mount Gipps Sheep Station in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. By chance, in 1883 one of his boundary riders, Charles Rasp
Charles Rasp
Charles Rasp is known as the first person to identify the economic potential of the ore deposits at Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia....
, discovered mineral samples on the property and pegged out a claim. George McCulloch immediately held a meeting with the station hands and it was agreed to form a Syndicate of Seven
Syndicate of Seven
The Syndicate of Seven is the name given to the original members of the Broken Hill Mining Company formed in 1883, who lodged applications for mining leases along the Line of Lode at Broken Hill in New South Wales, Australia....
pegging out a further six blocks which were amalgamated to form the privately owned 'Broken Hill Mining Company'. In 1885 this was floated into the Broken Hill Proprietary Mining Company Ltd.
George McCulloch retired to the UK a rich man about 1891. He married Agnes Mayger, the widow of an employee at Mount Gipps, in 1893 and they went to live at 184 Queens Gate, London.
Between 1893 and his death in 1907 George became an internationally known art collector and was a patron of the artist John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
. At the time of his death he owned the finest collection of paintings by modern British artists in the world. He made it his rule not to acquire a picture unless it was painted in his own lifetime.
He died in 1907, the year before his son Alexander McCulloch
Alexander McCulloch
Alexander McCulloch was a British rower who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics.-Biography:McCulloch was born at Melbourne, Australia, the son of George McCulloch...
won a Silver Medal in the Single Sculls at the London Summer Olympic Regatta
Rowing at the 1908 Summer Olympics
At the 1908 Summer Olympics, four rowing events were contested, all for men only. Races were held at Henley-on-Thames. The competitions were held from July 28, 1908 to July 31, 1908. There was one fewer event in 1908 than 1904, after the double sculls was dropped from the programme...
in 1908.
George's widow Agnes married the Scottish painter James Coutts Michie
James Coutts Michie
James Coutts Michie Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy was a Scottish painter who specialised in landscapes and portraits....
in 1908. The house at Queens Gate was used as a British Red Cross
British Red Cross
The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom branch of the worldwide impartial humanitarian organisation the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with over 31,000 volunteers and 2,600 staff. At the heart of their work...
Voluntary Aid Detachment
Voluntary Aid Detachment
The Voluntary Aid Detachment was a voluntary organisation providing field nursing services, mainly in hospitals, in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The organisation's most important periods of operation were during World War I and World War II.The...
hospital during the Great War and was known as the Michie Hospital. For her war work Agnes Coutts Michie received the CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
in 1920.