Edward Lord (Lieutenant Governor)

Edward Lord (1846)

Edward Lord (born June 15, 1781 in Pembroke , United Kingdom , † September 14, 1859 in London ) was a British officer, merchant and interim lieutenant governor of Van Diemens Land (now Tasmania).

Life

Lord was born in 1781, the third son of Joseph and Corbetta Lord. He joined the Royal Navy and was promoted to lieutenant on September 12, 1798 at Portsmouth .

In 1803, Lord was on board David Collins' expedition first to Port Phillip and a year later to Van Diemens Land, where he helped build Hobart . By October 1806 he rose to the highest official under Collins. On October 8, 1808, he married Maria Risely. When William Bligh , forced by the events of the Rum Rebellion , arrived in Hobart in March 1808, he was facing Collins and Lord abuse of office as they would trade to the detriment of the colony.

After Collins' sudden death in March 1810, Lord took office. The Governor of New South Wales , Lachlan Macquarie , however, removed Lord from all offices and installed John Murray as the new Lieutenant Governor. After Lord returned to England, his renewed application for the office of lieutenant governor was finally rejected on August 18, 1812. Lord left the Navy and, through the influence of his brother John Owen , a Member of Parliament, was awarded a total of 3,000  acres (1,214  hectares ) of land in Australia and Van Diemens land. He sailed back to Hobart aboard his own brig , the James Hay , carrying £ 30,000 worth of goods and became a good friend of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Davey .

In 1817 Lord was accused of smuggling and summoned by Macquarie to Sydney for a trial. Lord refused, however, and was ultimately able to remain unmolested in Hobart, as Davey and his successor William Sorell did nothing to arrest him. During a stay in England in 1819, Lord also complained about the unjustified allegations to Henry Bathurst and was awarded another 3,000 acres of land. After his return to Hobart, he increased his fortune through trade and advantageous bartering, so that he was considered the richest man in Tasmania around 1820. Lord was also the founder of what is now Tasmania's first bank, the Bank of Van Diemen's Land . Since he had to go to the court in distant Sydney in the event of defaulting debtors, he asked in 1823 that Van Diemens Land be granted the status of an independent colony - with its own court of law.

1828 continued Lord a manager for his possessions in Van Diemen's Land and settled in Downe in the county of Kent down. He died in London in 1859 at the age of 78.

literature

• Thea Rienits: Lord, Edward . In: Douglas Pike (Ed.): Australian Dictionary of Biography . Melbourne University Press, Carlton (Victoria) 1966–2012 (English).