Notable South Australians/William Rounsevell, J.P.
William Rounsevell, J.P.,
ONE of the early colonists, and a member of the staff of the South Australian Company. He was a native of Cornwall, and born on April 30, 1816. Arrived in South Australia by the ship "City of Adelaide" in 1839. He held several offices in the Police Force, but resigned in 1852 to goto Victoria. He returned to the colony in the same year, and commenced operations in the livery and coaching line, which eventually assumed gigantic proportions, as he for many years contracted for carrying nearly all the mails dispatched in the colony. Subsequently he sold the business to thefirm known as Cobb & Co., and retired upon the considerable property he had realized. He was an enthusiastic sportsman, and a crack shot, both here and in England, and the interest he took in field pastimes led him to stock Corryton Park with various kinds of English game, which he was successful in acclimatizing. Mr. Rounsevell revisited England in 1869-71, and on his return resided chiefly at Glenelg. He was a most successful colonist, and gained the respect of all with whom he came in contact. On his death, which took placeat Glenelg, oh October 5, 1874, in his fifty-eighth year, he left a widow and two sons—the elder, Mr. John Rounsevell, formerly a member of the House of Assembly, and largely engaged in Government contracts, now Town Councillor, and Mr. W. B. Rounsevell, M.P., at present a leading member of the South Australian Parliament.