Theophilus Pugh was a journalist, printer, politician and public servant. The son of a Wesleyan minister, he was educated at Kingswood School, Bristol, and Wesley College, Taunton. On leaving school he was apprenticed to a printer, and subsequently worked on a number of English newspapers. He arrived in Brisbane in 1855, and briefly worked as a correspondent for Henry Parkes's Sydney newspaper the Empire. He then edited the Moreton Bay Free Press (1855-1859), the Moreton Bay Courier and later named Courier (1859-1863), and the Telegraph (1872-1873). At about the time he left the Courier, Pugh also tried to establish a literary and family magazine, though without success. His Queensland Magazine (1862) ran to only a few issues, whilst his Weekly Herald (1863) also proved unviable, and was later taken over by the Queensland Daily Guardian. Along with former Moreton Bay Courier editor William Wilkes (q.v.), Pugh was one of the leading campaigners for Queensland self-government, and during his time at the Courier, the newspaper continued as a voice for progressive liberal reform. Under Pugh, the Courier was fiercely critical of the unelected arm of government and the powerful pastoral interests who then dominated the Legislative Council, and it was also during Pugh's tenure as editor that the Courier ran an editorial campaign against the Queensland Native Police.
Pugh was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly as the Member for Brisbane in 1863, retaining the seat until 1869, when he resigned. In 1874, following his brief return to journalism at the Telegraph, Pugh gained an appointment as a police magistrate. He subsequently served at a number of southern Queensland locations until his death in 1896. Pugh is now often remembered for Pugh's Queensland Almanac, which first appeared in 1866.
