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Frank Wickham

Also known as: Frank Wickham; primary name: Wickham, Frank
Details: individual; merchant/tradesman; academic/intellectual; British; Male
Other dates: 1875-1908 (dates of birth and death unknown)
Biography: Frank Wickham was a seaman from Somerset who was shipwrecked in Bougainville Strait, Solomon Islands in about 1875 and remained there to work for the trader Alexander Ferguson, becoming his agent in Roviana, New Georgia group. After Ferguson's death in 1880, Wickham continued trading on his own account, under the patronage of the Roviana chief Ingava, from the island of Hobopeka near Munda. He eventually established several large plantations in the New Georgia group, owned several ship, and became an important and respected figure in the colonial community of the Solomons. In 1908 he sold up and retired to Sydney. Wickham married first a Bougainville woman and then a Munda woman and his descendants remain in Solomon Islands. His son Alec is reputed to have introduced the 'Australian crawl' from Roviana, as a champion swimmer in Australia.
Bibliography: Graeme Golden (1993) The Early European Settlers of the Solomon Islands. Privately published, Melbourne. Section on Wickham pp206-208