biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1738–1814)
|
| biography:
| Admiral, founder and first governor of New South Wales, born in London, UK. He trained at Greenwich, joined the merchant navy at 16 and the Royal Navy at 23, saw service in the Mediterranean, and was at the taking of Havana. He retired from the navy after the Seven Years' War (1763), married, and settled as a gentleman farmer in Hampshire. After the failure of the marriage, he returned to the sea, serving with the Portuguese navy, and in 1778 rejoining the Royal Navy. In 1787 he was appointed commander of the ‘First Fleet’ carrying convicts to Australia, and founded a penal colony settlement at Sydney the following year. He returned to England in poor health in 1792, and was made vice-admiral in 1810. He married again, and retired to Bath. The site and foundations of his 1788 Government House still exist in Bridge Street, Sydney, the oldest piece of colonial heritage in the country. |
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