Charles Augustus FitzRoy

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Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy

Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy KCB KH Kt (born June 10, 1796 in Derbyshire , † February 16, 1858 in London ) was a British military officer, politician and nobleman who served as governor in various British colonies in the 19th century .

Origin and education

Charles Augustus FitzRoy was the son of General Lord Charles FitzRoy (1764-1829) and Frances Mundy. His grandfather Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton , was British Prime Minister from 1768 to 1770 .

Charles' half-brother Robert FitzRoy became an explorer meteorologist , captain of the HMS Beagle and later British Governor General of New Zealand .

Charles FitzRoy attended Harrow School in London before joining the British Army regiment of the Royal Horse Guards at the age of 16 . Shortly after his 19th birthday, his regiment took part in the Battle of Waterloo , in which he was wounded. In 1818 he traveled to Lower Canada with Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond . Shortly after his promotion to captain , he married Lady Mary Lennox, daughter of the Duke of Richmond, on March 11, 1820. In 1825 he held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was appointed Deputy Adjutant General of the Cape Colony , now part of South Africa . From 1831 to 1832 he was a member of the House of Commons as a Whigs MP for Borough Bury St Edmunds .

Governor of Prince Edward Island and the Leeward Islands

Charles was appointed the eleventh governor of Prince Edward Island on the coast of Canada on March 31, 1837 and a few days later he was made a Knight Bachelor and a Knight of the Guelph Order . In 1841 he returned to England. Shortly thereafter he became governor of the Leeward Islands in the Antilles until 1845 .

Governor of New South Wales

In 1845 Sir Charles was appointed tenth Governor of the British colony of New South Wales in Australia by Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby . FitzRoy replaced Sir George Gipps as governor, who had made himself unpopular with many in the colony through strict rules. It was typical of FitzRoy that he relaxed these regulations before his arrival. FitzRoy, his wife and son George arrived at the colony on August 2, 1846, aboard the HMS Carysfort . His wife later brought the other children to join them.

Shortly after his arrival, he was asked to use his leverage to raise the statutory 15% import duty on assets from New South Wales to Tasmania .

FitzRoy checked the suitability of the UK governments' instructions before agreeing and passing them on to the local legislature. In the long-running discussion about the spin-off of the historic Port Phillip District , FitzRoy held back and favored a bicameral system as the new political constitution. The need for the unification of the various colonies was recognized and one step was taken in 1850 when FitzRoy was appointed Governor General of the Australian Colonies in 1850 . During his governorship, great strides were made to reduce the number of convicts transported to New South Wales, the University of Sydney was established, the mints and accountability of government decisions introduced.

In 1847, FitzRoy served as governor of the colony of North Australia , although his lieutenant governor George Barney had primary responsibility for establishing the new colony under FitzRoy's leadership.

After being in the colony for 16 months, his wife died on December 7, 1847 in a carriage accident. In desperation he resigned and wanted to return to England, but his finances did not allow him to do so.

In 1851 the town of Grafton in New South Wales was named after his grandfather Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton .

Sir Charles stayed in New South Wales for eight years, during which the British colonies there developed to take their first steps towards becoming an Australian state. In 1853, FitzRoy was appointed governor of Van Diemens Land , South Australia and Victoria - an important pre-federal governor general of Australia with far-reaching powers to intervene in intercolonial discussions.

On June 12, 1854, he was inducted into the Order of the Bath as Knight Commander .

Last years and death

On January 28, 1855, he left Australia and went back to England. On September 11th, his son Augustus , a captain in the Royal Regiment of Artillery, died in the Crimean War . On December 11, 1855, he married Margaret Gordon, widow of a Melbourne real estate agent .

Naming

The Fitzroy River was named after him in 1853. The Fitzroy district of Melbourne also bears his name. The foundation stone of the Fitzroy dry dock named after him on Cockatoo Island near Sydney took place on June 5, 1854 by Charles Augustus FitzRoy.

FitzRoy named the Mary River after his wife Mary Lennox.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 2, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 339.
  2. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 479.
  3. ↑ a b Percival Serle: Fitzroy, Sir Charles Augustus (1796-1858) . In: Dictionary of Australian Biography . Project Gutenberg Australia . Retrieved August 27, 2007.
  4. ^ John M. Ward: FitzRoy, Sir Charles Augustus (1796-1858) . In: Australian Dictionary of Biography . Australian National University . Retrieved August 27, 2007.
  5. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 279.
  6. ^ Fitzroy River Basin
  7. ↑ naa.gov.au : Fitzroy dock , in English, accessed December 14, 2011
personal data
SURNAME FitzRoy, Charles Augustus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Governor of numerous British colonies
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1796
PLACE OF BIRTH Derbyshire , UK
DATE OF DEATH February 16, 1858
Place of death London