Philip Gay

Phillip Gay
Born	c.1829
Died	23 January 1901 Ballarat
Occupation	Publican
Years active	1862-1873
Known for	Koh-i-Noor Hotel
Home town	Ballarat
Spouse(s)	Susan McCandlish
Children	Robert Philip John Harold James Margaret

Philip Gay was a publican and company director in Ballarat, Victoria, <1862-1873>.

History

Philip Gay was born about 1829, the son of Philip Gay and Margaret Williams.. He came to Australia in 1852. He married Susan McCandlish (1834-1900) in 1858, and had several children including:

• Robert (1859-1939)
• Philip (1861-1941)
• John Augustus (1862-1932)
• Harold (1864-1933)
• James Bamford (1869-1957)
• Margaret Williams (1872-1872)

Philip Gay was granted the license for the Koh-i-Noor Hotel, on the south east corner of Eyre and Talbot Streets from in June 1862, 1863 and 1864. In March 1866 he was given permission by the council to erect a water trough outside the hotel.

In 1862 Philip Gay was listed as a shareholder with the Koh-i-Noor Gold Mining Co.

In April 1868 Gay unsuccessfully stood for election as a director of the Sir William Don Company.

In April 1868 Gay to legal action against two mining promoters claiming he had been duped into purchasing worthless shares. However during the court hearing it was discovered that he had sold the shares to another person, and the case was dismissed:

Rather a humorous case of biter bit, arising out of the late promoting mania, came before the County Court to-day. Philip Gay sued Messrs Ashton and Morey for £15, being the amount paid for two promoters' shares in the Great Northern Extended Company. The history of the company, as given in evidence, was to the following effect :— The company was started on the 29th January ; three days after, starting the shaft bottomed at 16 feet, and the company came to grief. Poor Phil was also in grief, for his £15, and demanded it back from the promoters, on the ground of misrepresentation, &c., who couldn't see it ; hence the suit. Singular to say, the company was only registered to-day, although the quarter-acre claim was proved a duffer early in February. Phil tried hard in his evidence to prove that the promoters had taken him in by misrepresentation, but came to grief a second time by an admission that he had transferred the shares to Thomas Kew Jones. Mr Walsh mildly insinuated in his cross-examination that Jones was a dummy, but Phil stuck to his friend and thereby put himself out of court. The judge expressed his gratification, that Mr Gay had been successful in finding a purchaser, and gave judgment for defendants, but without costs, as he looked on the transaction very much in the light of thimble rigging.

In December 1868 he was given permission by the city council to erect a verandah on the hotel.

In January 1869 Gay chaired the first meeting of the shareholders of the Duke of Northumberland Quartz Company at Pleasant Creek (now Stawell) and was elected as a director of the new company.

In July 1869 he advertised that he was transferring the license to William Boxall:

27 Victoria, No. 227. NOTICE OF INTENTION to APPLY for TRANSFER of LICENSE from one person to another.-I, PHILIP GAY, the holder of a Publican's License for the House and premises known as the Koh-i-Noor Hotel, situate at the corner of Eyre and Talbot streets, Ballarat West, do hereby give at the Court of Petty Sessions, to be holden at Ballarat West on the 30th day of July, 1869 to Transfer the said License to William Thomas Boxall, of Ballarat. (Signature of Applicant) PHILIP GAY Given under my hand this 20th day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.

In August 1870 he was made a governor of the Ballarat District Orphan Asylum.

In September 1870, Gay and the other directors of the Tweed Company, were taken to the Warden's Court at Smythesdale. The company had claimed too much ground at its claim at Haddon, by using non existent people and multiple listings to make a claim for 29 men, not the 14 who were actually on the list. The warden found them guilty and the extra land was removed from the claim.

In December 1872 Gay renewed his license for the Koh-i-noor Hotel. It was renewed in December 1873.

In August 1872 he was the treasurer of the Ballarat Mining Exchange, which at that time met in an upstairs room of the Unicorn Hotel in Sturt Street.

Gay died in Ballarat on 23 January 1901:

GAY —On the 23rd January, Philip Gay, aged 72 years.

GAY.—At 327 Sturt-street, Ballarat, Philip Gay, aged 72 years, a colonist of 49 years.

The friends of the late Mr Philip Gay are respectfully informed that his remains will be removed from his late residence, 327 Sturt street, to the place of interment, the Ballarat New Cemetery, on Friday, 29th inst., at 2 o'clock.

After his death his properties were sold in June 1903:

Several city properties in the estate of the late Philip Gay were submitted for sale at auction on Friday. A two-story shop, with a frontage to Sturt-street of 19 feet by a depth of 120 feet along Doveton-street, was purchased by, Mr. H. Davies, draper, for £3375.

Mr. Philip Gay, late of Sturt-street, Ballarat, mining investor, who died on January 23, executed on September 22 last a will, which has been lodged for probate. By it he left realty worth £5,515, and personalty worth £913 to his sons, Robert, Philip, John A., Harold, and James B. Gay.