Cargill was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1784. His parents were James Cargill and Marrion Jamieson. His father died of alcoholism when he was 15. He joined the British Army in 1802 and served with distinction in India, Spain, and France. In 1813, he married Mary Ann Yates; they had seventeen children. Of these, two of his five sons became notable in public life: John, who followed in his father's footsteps and became a politician, and Edward, a prominent businessman and politician. Family circumstances forced him to sell his commission in 1820, though he was later referred to as "Captain Cargill". After leaving the army, he became a wine merchant in Scotland. On 24 November 1847, Cargill sailed for New Zealand on the ship John Wickliffe, arriving at what is now Port Chalmers, Otago on 23 March 1848.
Political career
The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 granted the settler population self-government, and in 1853 Cargill was elected Superintendent of the Otago Province. Cargill also served as a member of parliament for Dunedin Country. He was elected unopposed on 11 December 1855. He served the multi-member electorate alongside his son John. He rarely spoke in the house and found travel to parliament in Auckland difficult. Aged 75, he announced his resignation from public office in October 1859; he died less than a year later. He was described as a "unabashed provincialist".
Death and legacy
He died of a stroke on 6 August 1860, at his home "Hillside" in Dunedin, and is buried in Dunedin Southern Cemetery with his wife and three children. His daughter Isabel Cargill, travelled to Italy with Miss Ann Marie Babington and 1892 they opened Babington's English Tea Rooms www.babingtons.com on the Spanish Steps in Rome which still today belongs to her descendants. Numerous names have connections with Cargill. The city ofInvercargill is named for him, as is Mount Cargill, which towers above northern Dunedin. "Cargill's Corner" is a major road intersection in South Dunedin, and one of the roads which crosses at it is Hillside Road, named for Cargill's house. A Tasmanian sandstone monument to Cargill was built in Dunedin in 1864. Cargill's Castle, a ruined stately home above St Clair is not named for William Cargill, but for his son Edward.
