Robert Ross (officer)
Robert Ross (* probably 1740 , Scotland ; † 9 June 1794 , probably in Brompton , Kent , Great Britain ) was an officer in the Royal Marines and the first lieutenant governor of New South Wales in what was then the penal colony of Australia .
Military career
Little is known about his early years.
At the age of 16 Robert Ross joined the Royal Marines and rose to lieutenant . In October 1759 he was promoted to captain , in March 1773 to major and in March 1783 to honorary major.
From 1757 to 1760 he served in North America and was involved in the Seven Years' War in the Battle of Louisbourg and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham . In the American Revolutionary War he was involved in the Battle of Bunker Hill from 1775 to 1776 . In August 1779 he was supposed to return to Great Britain on the HMS Ardent , but this was captured by the French. He was taken prisoner. After his captivity he served in the Mediterranean and the West Indies from 1781 to 1782 .
On October 24, 1786 he was appointed lieutenant governor of New South Wales and sailed with the First Fleet on the Scarborough to Australia. On the Frist Fleet he was the commander of four companies of the Royal Marines with 213 soldiers who arrived in Port Jackson in what is now New South Wales in 1789 .
Australia
Arguments with Arthur Phillip
Arthur Phillip , the first Governor of New South Wales, and Robert Ross disagreed on many issues relating to the establishment of the Australian Convict Colony.
Ross accused Phillip of not paying enough attention to the officers' statute, that he would not build fortified structures and not enough accommodation for the officers. Ross and other officers also wanted to be members of the newly established colonial court. Phillip refused this request. There were also differences between the convict supervisory staff and the military personnel, so Phillip prohibited soldiers from giving instructions to convicts. Phillip's leadership methods were also heavily criticized by the officers and his leadership skills as a whole were called into question. The differences with the officer increased and were finally so great that Phillip put five officers under arrest.
Norfolk Island
As a result, Ross saw no more prospects for himself in the new colony. In March 1790, Phillip sent him to Norfolk Island , possibly to avoid further arguments. Shortly after Ross arrived, his ship, the Sirius , crashed into pieces and sank. As a result, Ross adopted harsh measures that undermined his authority. The Guardian ship , which was to supply her with additional goods four months later, also sank. In order to survive, the convicts were instructed by Ross to provide for or grow their own food. This concept created self-sufficiency for the convicts, which resulted in less land being cleared for the general public. This concept thwarted the plan for a successful future settlement and, above all, it did not improve the situation. Ross's successor suspended this instruction from Ross.
Return to Great Britain
Robert Ross arrived in Sydney on December 5, 1791 on his return journey . Shortly after his arrival, he dueled with another officer, which had no consequences for the duelists. Shortly afterwards, on December 13th, he was embarked for Great Britain on the Gorgon . His military career ended there as an officer in charge of equipment.
His son John later went to Australia as a volunteer.
Evaluation of his character
The Australian historian Mollie Gillen qualified Robert Ross as an obsessively dutiful, narrow-minded, self-important and completely humorless person.
The significant character of Ross and his relationship to the convicts processed Timberlakewertebaker in 1988 in the novel Our Country's Good .
Jimmy McGovern used Robert Ross as a character in the 2015 TV series Banished , a drama about the founding time of the Australian penal colony. He is portrayed there by Joseph Millson .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b David S. Macmillan: Robert Ross (1740-1794) on adb.aun.edu.au. Retrieved March 19, 2015
- ^ Marines , June 8, 2012, at firstfleetfellowshio.org, accessed March 19, 2016
- ^ Mollie Gillen : The Founders of Australia: A biographical dictionary of the First Fleet , Sydney 1989, Library of Australian History
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ross, Robert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British Naval Officer and Deputy Governor of New South Wales |
| DATE OF BIRTH | uncertain: 1740 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Scotland |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 9, 1794 |
| Place of death | Brompton , Kent , UK |