Life and career
Wendt was born in Itzehoe, a small town in Holstein, then a Danish province, son of Joachim Matthias Wendt and his wife Christina, née Schlichting.[1] After his mother's death around 1839 he was brought up by his father and two sisters, then apprenticed to a watchmaker and silversmith.[1] In 1848 Holstein was conquered by Prussia, and he found German rule so distasteful that he emigrated to South Australia, arriving in 1851,[2] and was naturalised as a British citizen in 1864,[3] facts which he used to deflect the popular ill-feeling against people of German origin during the Great War.
He began business as watchmaker and jeweller in the City of Adelaide at Pirie Street, and in 1852 opened premises at 68 Rundle Street, moving to larger premises at 84 Rundle Street in 1861[4] then no. 70 in 1874.[5] Julius Ludwig Schomburgk (ca.1818 – 9 March 1893), a brother of Moritz Richard Schomburgk, was for many years Wendt's principal designer and workshop foreman.[6] His business expanded steadily until it became one of the largest and best known in Australia. In 1869 he opened another shop at Mount Gambier and in 1888 another in Broken Hill, New South Wales, though this business was sold around 1895.[7]
Later development
In 1903 his son Julius M. "Jule" Wendt and stepson Hermann Koeppen-Wendt were brought in as partners in the firm and took over its management.[1]
Business was transferred to a new shop at 74 Rundle Street in December 1904, with an optician's department and workshops on the first floor.[8] Jule moved to London leaving Hermann in charge of the Adelaide business. When J. M. Wendt senior died in 1917, Hermann Koeppen-Wendt inherited the business. His sons A. and Kenneth were fighting overseas; Kenneth was killed in France and in 1927 Alan was brought into the company as an equal partner with his father,[5] and in 1938 inherited the business, bringing his son Peter in as a partner in 1946. The company became Wendts Pty Ltd.in 1947 with Alan and Peter as directors.[5]
Other activities
- He was part owner and director of the Adelaide Crystal Ice Company, the Metropolitan Brick Company and the Triumph Plow Company.
- He was one of the consortium that built the Adelaide Arcade, which he eventually owned, and opened a second shop at 24–28 in the Arcade.
- He was part owner of the original Theatre Royal in Hindley Street.[9]
- He built the Freemasons' Hall in Flinders Street
- He was a member of the Tintinara Land Syndicate, which is credited with the discovery that the so-called 90-mile desert is not a barren waste, but by treatment with trace elements could become valuable arable land.[10]
- He invested in gold mines in South Australia, notably the Bird-in-Hand and Mount Torrens.
- In later years he studied Count Mattei's system of homoeopathy, and treated many people.
