Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/302

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
Mac]
DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
[Mac

in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1820, and whilst still a youth went to London, where he engaged in business. He took great interest in the scheme for the settlement of Otago, N.Z., by the Free Church of Scotland. Eventually he decided to cast in his lot with the settlement; and, having purchased an iron schooner, he and his family set sail in 1850 for his new colonial home. He very soon commenced to take an active part in public affairs, and his enterprise in starting new industries of various kinds led to the establishment of shipbuilding. Mr. Macandrew introduced the first merchant steamer, and was one of the members of the first Otago Provincial Council and of the first House of Representatives, being elected to the former for the Dunedin country district in Sept 1853, and being continuously a member of the latter body for Dunedin City and Port Chalmers down to his death in 1887. In 1860 he became Superintendent of the Province of Otago, and served four terms, holding office until the provinces were abolished in spite of strenuous opposition in 1876. In the first General Assembly Mr. Macandrew, in 1854, was one of the members of the Executive Council appointed by Acting Governor Wynyard without portfolio; out it was not Until 1877 that he held office again, when (in October) he became Minister of Lands in Sir George Grey's Cabinet, a portfolio which he subsequently exchanged for the Ministry of Public Works. The Grey Government went out of office in Oct. 1879. Mr. Macandrew was the founder of the Otago University, and the originator of the Panama and Californian mail services, and, indeed, of steam communication by sea in New Zealand. In 1884 he ventilated a plan for settling the Highland crofters on the lands of the colony. Mr. Macandrew was the Father of the House of Representatives at the time of his death, which took place on Feb. 24th, 1887, as the result of a carriage accident, when a fund was raised for his family, and several public memorials were organised to perpetuate his memory.

McArthur, Alexander, son of the late Rev. John McArthur, Wesleyan minister, Londonderry, and brother of Sir William McArthur, was born in 1814. He emigrated to Australia in 1841, and was a member of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales during two Parliaments and a magistrate of the Territory. In 1861 he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, and in 1863 he returned to England. He was a member of the first London School Board, and represented Leicester in the House of Commons from 1874 to 1892. He married in 1853 Maria Bowden, second daughter of the late Rev. W. B. Boyce, of Sydney.

Macarthur, David Charteris, sometime Superintendent, Bank of Australasia, went to Sydney, N.S.W., in 1835 as one of the first batch of clerks sent out to start the Bank of Australasia in that city. In 1837, after the settlement at Port Phillip had been definitely organised, Mr. Macarthur was sent there to open a branch of the Bank of Australasia in Melbourne, and did so towards the end of the year in a small two-roomed house in what is now Little Collins Street. In 1854 Mr. Macarthur was one of a small committee appointed by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Charles Hotham, to inquire into the state of the finances, and concurred in the report which recommended the abolition of the imprest system. Down to 1878 Mr. Macarthur was Superintendent of the Bank of Australasia, and on his retirement was made managing director in Australia. He died on Nov. 15th, 1887.

Macarthur, Lieut.-General Sir Edward, K.C.B., was the eldest son of John Macarthur, of Camden Park, New South Wales, the virtual founder of the merino wool industry of Australia, by Elizabeth, daughter of R. Veal, of Bridge Rule, Devon, and was born at Bath in 1780. When only a year old he was taken to Parramatta, N.S.W. He entered the army in 1808, became lieutenant in 1809; served with distinction through the Peninsular War, and accompanied his regiment (the 39th) to Sicily, Canada, Spain, and France. He became captain in 1829, major in 1836, and after some time spent in the Lord Chamberlain's department, served on the staff in Ireland from 1837 to 1841, when he became lieut.-colonel, and was gazetted Deputy Adjutant-General in Australia. In 1854 he became colonel, and the next year was appointed Commander of the Forces in the Australian Colonies, in which capacity he administered the government of Victoria during the interregnum which followed on the death of

286