The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Kingston, Hon. Sir George Strickland

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1399619The Dictionary of Australasian Biography — Kingston, Hon. Sir George StricklandPhilip Mennell

Kingston, Hon. Sir George Strickland, son of George Kingston, of Bandon, Cork, Ireland, was born in 1807, and arrived in South Australia with Colonel Light, the first Surveyor-General, in August 1836. On the resignation of Colonel Light in March of the next year, Mr. Kingston was appointed acting Surveyor-General, and supervised most of the early surveys of the colony. He was made Deputy Surveyor in 1838, Inspector of Public Works in 1839, and Town Surveyor in 1840. He opposed the admission of convicts in 1845, and the granting of State aid to religion in 1848. He was returned to the mixed Legislative Council for the Burra in 1851, and to the first Legislative Assembly in 1857, when he was elected the first Speaker. This post he held from April 1857 till March 1860, when he lost his seat. He was, however, again returned for the Burra, and re-elected Speaker in March 1865, occupying the chair of the House till Dec. 1880, during which period he had been five times unanimously re-elected. He was knighted in 1870. Sir George married first, in 1829, Harriet Ann Stuart, daughter of Captain Felix MacDonough (who died in 1839); secondly, in 1841, Ludovina Catherine da Silva, daughter of Lieut.-Colonel Charles G. Cameron (who died the same year); and thirdly, Emma Mary Ann Catherine Berry, daughter of Captain Thomas Lipson, R.N. He died at sea on Nov. 26th, 1881, whilst on a voyage to India to recruit his health.