William Ramsay (manufacturer)


William Ramsay was a Scottish-born Australian shoe polish manufacturer. In 1906, Ramsay developed "Kiwi" brand shoe polish, today one of the most famous shoe polish brands in the world.
Born in Glasgow in 1868, Ramsay moved to Australia at the age of ten, settling with his family in Melbourne in June, 1878. The family prospered in Victoria; Ramsay's father, John, was a die-sinker and engraver in Scotland, but became a successful real estate broker in his adopted homeland. After he left school, William Ramsay set up a real estate firm with his father. The business, "John Ramsay & Son", prospered.
After a trip to New Zealand, where he met and married Annie Elizabeth Meek in Oamaru on 2 January 1901, Ramsay established a factory in Carlton in partnership with Hamilton McKellar. From there, Ramsay & McKellar would produce disinfectants, polishes, creams, and a variety of other products.
In 1904 the pair moved the factory to Elizabeth Street, in Melbourne, where, in 1906, they began producing a new shoe polish under the trademark "Kiwi". The polish, which would become phenomenally successful in Australia within a few years, was named in honour of Annie Ramsay's New Zealand heritage. In 1912, after McKellar had left the company, Ramsay's father established a branch of Kiwi Polish Co. in London, in the United Kingdom, and in 1913 William Ramsay himself headed to the region to promote the new brand in Europe.
Ramsay died of cancer in the family home at Essendon, in Melbourne, outlived by his wife and two sons. His father would follow ten years later.
Two of Ramsay's brothers also went on to achieve notability: Sir John Ramsay as a surgeon and cricketer, and Hugh Ramsay as an artist.