George Fenwick (editor)

New Zealand journalist (1847–1929)

Sir George Fenwick (2 February 1847 – 23 September 1929) was a New Zealand newspaper proprietor and editor. He is best known for his time as manager and editor of the Otago Daily Times, during which time he supported the campaign initiated by Rutherford Waddell against sweat shops.

Fenwick was born on 2 February 1847, When he was six years old his family responding to the discovery of famous goldfields emigrated to Australia, arriving in Victoria on New Year's Day in 1853. As the gold fever in Australia subsided, his parents in response to the advertising of W. H. Reynolds, honorary immigration agent for the Provincial Council of Otago of the superior advantages of Otago in New Zealand the couple immigrated with their three children on the schooner Challenger, reaching Dunedin on 23 January 1856.

Following the completion of his apprenticeship he worked in the office of the newspaper before leaving in 1868 to gain a wider experience of newspapers and the priming trade in Australia. He initially resided in Sydney attracted by the presence in port of his uncle, George Turnbull Brown, who was captain of the Cornwallis, which was involved in the Australian trade. When Carrick agreed to drop his venture Matthews and Fenwick decided to proceeded and made a successful canvass for advertisements and subscribers prior only to find on 1 November that Carrick had changed his mind and was also going ahead with his publication. By the time Matthews arrived in Cromwell in a wagon with the printing equipment and their household belongings the office was almost ready for occupation. Their rival the Cromwell Guardian soon commenced publication, but after six months it ceased publication. In response to the campaign a royal commission on sweating was established in 1890. Its conclusions and recommendations formed the basis of many of the country's social reforms of the following decade. After the two groups merged in 1879 Fenwick became a member of the committee of the resulting United Press Association. In 1909 Fenwick handed the editorship of the newspaper to James Hutchison. He was an office holder in many welfare and cultural organisations, including St Mary's Orphanage, the Prisons Board, YMCA, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand Nurses' Memorial Fund, Hocken Library, Otago Expansion League, Shipwreck Belief Society, Patriotic and General Welfare Association and the Patients' and Prisoners' Aid Society. To counter cruelty to horses in 1882 he led the founding of the Otago branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). He was the founding president of the Dunedin Rotary Club. He also served as a director on numerous companies including Perpetual Trustees Estate, and Agency Company of New Zealand; Standard Insurance Company of New Zealand, United Press Association of New Zealand, and of the Lyttelton Times Company. His commercial interests led to him serving in 1916–1917 as president of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce.

Fenwick was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours for public services, and invested by the Prince of Wales in 1920 during his visit to Dunedin.

Fenwick married Jane Atlantic Proudfoot at Dunedin in 1874. Jane had been born to Marion (nee Jack) and George Proudfoot on the board the Strathfieldsaye, while it was en route to Melbourne in 1851. Following the death of her father she and her mother followed her brother David Proudfoot to Dunedin. Jane died on 21 December 1938 at the age of 86, nine years after her husband. The couple had eight children: Lilian May Fenwick (1880–1957), Linda Constance Fenwick (1876–1962), George Earnest Oswald Fenwick (1878–1955), Florence Eveline Fenwick (1879–1914), Ruby Beatrice Fenwick (1884–1968), Marion Robertine Fenwick (1875–1952), David Eardley Fenwick (1887–1934) and Stanley Arthur Fenwick (1886–1891). Businessman and environmentalist Rob Fenwick was his great grandson.