A senior member of staff at the London office of Ward, Lock, William Steele came to Melbourne in 1894 and founded a branch of the company there, initially in St James Street, and from 1893 in McKillop Street, Melbourne. Steele encouraged a number of Australian writers and was instrumental in having much Australian work published by Ward, Lock. He advised writers such as Ethel Turner and Mary Grant Bruce on how to modify their work for the British market. Steele died in 1919. He was succeeded at Ward, Lock, Melbourne, by Charles Stewart Blight.
