The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Des Vœux, Sir George William
Des Vœux, Sir George William, K.C.M.G., third son of the late Rev. Henry Des Vœux, and brother of Sir Henry Dalrymple Des Vœux, 5th Bart., of Indiaville, Queen's County, was born in 1834, and educated at the Charterhouse and Balliol College, Oxford. He was called to the bar of Upper Canada in 1861; was Stipendiary Magistrate at British Guiana from 1863 to 1869; Administrator of the Government and Colonial Secretary of Lucia 1869-77; Lieut.-Governor of Trinidad in 1877; Lieut.-Governor of Fiji from June 1878 to Sept. 1879, during the absence of Sir Arthur Gordon; Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Bahamas from May to August 1880; of Fiji from Jan. 1880 to Dec. 1886; of Newfoundland from 1886 to 1887; and of Hong Kong from 1887 to 1891, when he retired. In 1880, whilst Governor of Fiji, Sir William was Assistant-High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, and from 1882 to 1885 acting High Commissioner. He was created C.M.G. in 1877 and K.C.M.G. in 1883. Sir William married, in 1877, Marion Denison, daughter of Sir John Pender, K.C.M.G. In 1883, whilst Governor of Fiji, Sir William attended the Intercolonial Conference held in Sydney, out of which the Federal Council of Australasia sprang.