People Australia

Wing, John (1840-1914) compositor, commission agent and trade union official 

Birth: 3 December 1840 at Hoxton, Middle Town, Middlesex [London], England, son of Joseph Standen Wing (1812-1895), accountant, and Isabella Jane, née Haines (1821-1903). Marriage: 30 July 1880 at the registrar of marriages office, Fitzroy, Victoria, to a widow with five surviving children, Lydia Parker, née Smithers [or Smitheram), late Priest (1843-1923), a seamstress, born at Maitland, New South Wales. They had two daughters, one of whom died in childhood of diphtheria. Death: 27 June 1914 in his home at Baker Street, Richmond. 

• Came to Victoria in about 1853. Described himself as a compositor at his marriage in 1880.
• Secretary of the Victorian Tailoresses Union from 1889 to 1890 when the union collapsed.
• "Connected with the Metropolian Press”, he was also prominent in municipal affairs at Richmond.
• Worked as a commission agent. For many years he was a collector for the Homoeopathic Hospital, Melbourne.
• Cause of death: chronic bronchitis.
• His daughter Vida May Wing, later McDonald (1882-1959) was a well-known and successful teacher of dancing. 

Sources
Merrifield Card Index, State Library of Victoria.