Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/185

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

and secondly, in 1872, Fanny Maria, daughter of William Seccombe, sen., Medical Officer of Tasmania, who survives him. Sir Valentine, who was knighted in 1856, died on Oct. 25th, 1884.


Fletcher, James, M.L.A., was for some years the representative of Newcastle in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales, and was Secretary for Mines in the Jennings Ministry from Feb. to Dec. 1886, when he resigned. He was Secretary for Public Works in the Dibbs Ministry from Jan. to March, 1889. Mr. Fletcher died on March 22nd, 1891.


Fletcher, Rev. William Roby, M.A., is the son of the late Rev. Richard Fletcher, a well-known Congregational minister, who officiated in Manchester, and subsequently in Melbourne, Vict., where he died in 1861. He was born in Manchester on April 6th, 1833, and was educated at Silcoats School in Yorkshire, at the University of Bonn, the Lancashire Independent College, and at Owens College (now the Victoria University), Manchester. Mr. Fletcher graduated B.A. at London University in 1853, and in the following year took the London University prize for the Scripture examination. In 1856 he graduated M.A., and won the gold medal. He soon afterwards sailed for Sydney, and ultimately proceeded to Victoria, where he acted as his father's assistant at St. Kilda and Sandhurst. In 1866 he removed to Richmond, near Melbourne, and was appointed a professor at the Congregational College of Victoria. After a tour round the world he became pastor of the Stow Memorial Church, Adelaide, in March 1876. Since 1878 he has been a member of the Council of Adelaide University, of which he was made an honorary M.A. in 1877. During the last illness, and subsequent to the death of the late Professor Davidson, he was acting Hughes Professor of English Language and Literature and Mental and Moral Philosophy. In 1890 he was elected Vice-Chancellor of the University.


Folingsby, George Frederick, was born in Ireland in 1830, but went, when young, to America, where he commenced his artistic career by contributing illustrations to Harper's Magazine. Subsequently he studied for six years at the Munich Academy, and after a varied artistic experience on the continent of Europe, settled at Munich, where he remained for twenty-five years, painting pictures which were exhibited in the principal galleries of Europe. In 1880 he visited Victoria at the request of the trustees of the National Gallery in Melbourne, of which he was subsequently appointed director, a post which he held till his death. The collection contains his painting of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn; but his work in Australia was mainly confined to portraiture. He died in Melbourne on Jan. 4th, 1891.


Forbes, Frederic Augustus, was born in Sydney in 1818, and educated at Cape's School, Sydney, and at the King's School, Parramatta. After engaging in business at Liverpool, in New South Wales, he removed to the Moreton Bay district in 1848, and resided at Ipswich. Having entered the Legislative Assembly of Queensland after the formation of that colony, he was appointed Chairman of Committee in 1870, and was Speaker from Nov. 1871 to Sept. 1873. Mr. Forbes died in 1877.


Forbes, Henry Ogg, A.L.S., F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., ex-Director of Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, N.Z., is the son of Rev. Alexander Forbes, M.A., and Mary (Ogg) his wife. He was born at Drumblade, Huntly, Aberdeenshire, and was married in Java on April 5th, 1882, to Annabella, daughter of William Keith, of Aberdeen. From Oct. 1878 to the end of 1883 he was engaged in exploring the islands of the Dutch East Indies, travelling in Java and Sumatra; and after April 1882, accompanied by his wife, he visited the Moluccas and Timorlaut (where, in daily peril of their lives, they were forced to spend three months), Bouru, and Timor. The results of these years have been published in "A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago" (Sampson Low) and by Mrs. Forbes in a volume, "Insulinde: Experiences of a Naturalist's Wife in the Eastern Archipelago" (Blackwood). On the publication of the "Wanderings" Mr. Forbes started for New Guinea to attempt the exploration of Mount Owen Stanley. This expedition was under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society and of the Royal Scientific Geographical Society, and under the recognition of the Government, by whom it was recommended to Sir Peter Scratchley, K.C.M.G., then appointed first Special Commissioner over British New Guinea.

169