Name

J.F. Whillas

Culture

Scottish

Gender

Male

Birth date

21 May 1846

Birth place

Edinburgh, Scotland View on map Close map

Death date

16 March 1897

Death Place

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia View on map Close map

Movements

Australia from 1869

Occupations

Printer | Stationer

Summary

Worked: Australia (SA)

Context

Australia

Biography

John Ramage Foggo Whillas was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on the 21st May 1846. With a strong interest in books he worked for a stationers in Edinburgh. Because times were tough in the homeland, he and his brother Chales Baillie Whillas decided to go to Australia to try their luck, so in May 1869 they departed for Adelaide. On arrival in Adelaide he went to work for Pratts & Company, stationers, on the corner of King William and Hindley Streets. He married on the 13th September 1871 and had eight children. In 1880 he went into partnership with Peter David Ormiston (Whillas & Ormiston). On the 16th March 1897, John Ramage Foggo Whillas died and the partnership was taken over by his younger brother James Andrew Foggo Whillas. In 1888 they were located at "Next door but one to Stow Memorial Church, Flinders Street". The partnership was disolved in July 1901 due to the ill-health of Peter David Ormiston. On the 16th November 1910, the Genders' building was practically destroyed by fire, the largest business being Whillas and Ormiston.

[Robert Alexander Whillas, great-grandson of John Ramage Foggo Whillas, 16 September 2010]