Lachlan Macquarie biography
Date of birth : 1762-01-31
Date of death : 1824-07-01
Birthplace : Ulva, Inner Hebrides
Nationality : English
Category : Historian personalities
Last modified : 2011-10-12 15:03:05
Credited as : , British officer, governor of New South Wales
Lachlan Macquarie (1762-1824), British officer and governor of New South Wales, sought to improve the status of emancipists and undertook a major public works program.
Lachlan Macquarie, born on Jan. 31, 1762, came from a poor Scottish family in the Inner Hebrides. The American War of Independence offered him an opportunity to rise in the world, and he joined a Highland regiment commanded by a cousin. In 1784 Macquarie returned to Scotland as a lieutenant and 3 years later embarked upon 16 years of military service in India and Egypt.
Promotion to major, prize money, and an inheritance from his first wife, a West Indian heiress, enabled Macquarie to accumulate a competent fortune, and in 1803 he returned home to take possession of a 10,000-acre estate which he had acquired from his uncle on the island of Mull. The outbreak of war with France led to his appointment as assistant adjutant general of the London District, and Lt. Col. Macquarie soon came into contact with the country's leading politicians. When Maj. Gen. Miles Nightingall declined to become governor of New South Wales following the deposition of Capt. William Bligh in 1808, Macquarie successfully volunteered for the position.
Macquarie's administration, which began in January 1810, lasted for 12 years. He set out to improve the material and moral condition of the colony, and wide experience as a staff officer made him a vigorous administrator. The public service and financial arrangements of the colony were remodeled; a hospital, barracks, and roads were constructed; the Bank of New South Wales was established under his patronage in 1817; he encouraged exploration across the Blue Mountains, and accompanied by his second wife, he frequently toured the settled parts of the colony.
Believing that convicts who had been reformed by their prison sentences should be reincorporated into society with
full civil rights, Macquarie appointed emancipists to public office and invited them to Government House
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