Letter from Edward Macarthur to Henry Labouchere, 22 October 1857, enclosing his own duplicate of an earlier letter of 20 August 1857

MLMSS 10236

fonds

20 August 1857, 22 October 1857

9633682

Microfilm : MAV/FM4/2359

0.01 metres of textual material (1 folder) - manuscript

Sir Edward Macarthur was born in England in 1789. He went to Sydney with his parents, John and Elizabeth Macarthur in 1790 and spent his boyhood there and at Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta. With his father he took part in the deposition of Governor William Bligh in 1808. Shortly after, he returned to England with the first bale of merino wool to be exported from the colony. He obtained a commission as an ensign in the 60th Regiment and served at Corunna and in Sicily and took part in Wellington's Peninsular campaigns of 1812-14. He returned to NSW in 1824 for ten months as agent for T. P. McQueen. In the 1840s he published two small books advocating emigration and arranged the migration of German vinedressers to the Macarthur properties at Camden. In 1851 he was posted to Sydney as deputy adjutant general. Promoted colonel in 1854, he moved with the headquarters to Melbourne and visited Eureka where he talked with the miners. Following the death of Governor Hotham in 1855, Macarthur became administrator of Victoria. In 1858 he chaired a royal commission on the defences of the colony. In 1860 he returned to England and was appointed K.C.B. two years later. He was promoted lieutenant-general in 1866 and died in 1872.

Henry Labouchere, an English politician, writer, publisher and theatre owner was Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1855 to 1858.

References:
Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/macarthur-sir-edward-4059/text6465 (Accessed online 17 June 2019).
Mitchell Library correspondence file.

Two manuscript letters from Edward Macarthur to Henry Labouchere, one being a duplicate of an earlier letter. Two sheets of folded laid paper with in total five pages of writing. The later letter is Macarthur’s request that he be appointed a Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB) rather than the lower decoration of Companion of the Bath (CB) for which he had been recommended. He argues that “according to usage, my local rank, as Major General, should have precluded my nomination to the 3rd Class of the Bath.” He goes on to develop his argument by referring to “precedent and recent practice” and his own record of “forty-nine years in the Military & Civil service of the Crown” including his role as acting governor for 12 months “of this most important Colony”. Enclosed with this letter is a copy of an earlier letter Macarthur had sent to Labouchere in which he points out that neither his social or military position as a Major General exercising an important command would “be raised by either of these Honours.” He also suggests that he had already earned a CB firstly for his services in 1842 for which he received the thanks of the Secretary of State and then in 1846 in Ireland when his services were praised by the Duke of Wellington as “highly valuable.”

Out of copyright: Author died more than 70 years ago
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Watermark on letter dated 22 October 1857: "Pirie 1854".