Hector MACQUARIE

Lachlan Macquarie's nephew. Illegitimate son of Charles Macquarie (1771 -1835) and Janet Maclaine. Born in 1794 at Moy, Isle of Mull. No other details survive relating to Janet Maclaine who may have been employed at the time of conception in the household of Murdoch Maclaine of Lochbuy. Why the child was given up by her is equally is unclear. 

Lachlan Macquarie promised his brother Charles (in 1800) to provide for the boy to whom he referred to as 'the hero Hector'. Consequently in 1801 he acquired an army commission for Hector (and one for another young relative, John Maclaine) in the 40th Regiment, despite the fact that the boy was only six or seven years of age.

By 1802 Hector had reached the rank of Lieutenant (on half pay) with the regiment; but unfortunately for Lachlan Macquarie, in 1803 both boys were placed on full pay by the War Office - and were required to report for military duty immediately. At this stage Macquarie had returned from India and was stationed in London, and he became desperate to disguise the true ages of the boys as well as to mislead army officials concerning their real whereabouts. Initially, he resorted to the 'fiction' of claiming that Hector Macquarie and Maclaine had left for the West Indies six months earlier to become settlers. However, when advised that if they did not return within six months they would lose their commissions, Macquarie claimed that both of them had now returned to Scotland and were keen to attend a military academy for 18 months (while on half pay).

At this point a secret informant in Scotland (opposed to the Maclaines and the Macquaries) advised the War Office that Hector was in fact only seven years old. This forced Lachlan Macquarie to abandon his next ruse of trying to find substitutes amongst his kinsmen to impersonate the boys. After a War Office inquiry, the boys' commissions were forfeited (without compensation), and Macquarie was severely reprimanded. He was, in fact, extremely fortunate not to have been dismissed from the army for this attempt at subterfuge and dishonesty. The incident certainly damaged Lachlan Macquarie's credibility with senior army staff and ruined his hopes of requesting that his tour of duty in England be extended - and he was summarily sent back to his regiment in India. It was also at this juncture that Macquarie proposed to Elizabeth Campbell asking her to become his wife - and to wait for his return from India.

In 1808, after his return from India, Lachlan Macquarie found a placement for Hector as a cadet in the Royal Military College in Marlow - this time accurately listing his nephew's age as fourteen. Hector entered the army as an Ensign in the 86th Regiment on 26 September 1811 and joined his regiment in India in January 1813. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 12 February 1814; then, following his uncle's advice, he transferred to the 48th Regiment, and was thereby able to join the regiment for its tour of duty to New South Wales in 1818. He departed from Calcutta on 7 October 1817 on board the brig Greyhound, arriving in Sydney on 14 April 1818 (after landfall in Hobart on 25 February 1818).

After his arrival Hector accompanied Macquarie and his family on the tour of inspection to Newcastle in July 1818; and he remained at the settlement at the request of Captain Wallis (along with Ensign Roberts) for an additional few weeks assisting with the administration.

When Lieut. John Watts resigned as Macquarie's aide-de-camp on 24 December 1818 Hector replaced him. His appointment commenced on 27 December 1818. However the selection of another family member as a personal staff officer proved to be another unfortunate choice (as it had been with the appointment of John Maclaine). Hector's undisciplined behaviour created an endless series of incidents and embarrassments for the governor.

Firstly, in August 1819, Hector was accused of raping a servant girl at Parramatta - a 'half-sister of Mrs Oakes'. This offence against a well-respected family was 'punished' by Hector's removal from Government House and his confinement to military barracks for one month.

Hector accompanied the Macquaries on their tour of inspection in April-July 1821, visiting Port Dalrymple, Launceston and George Town, as well as joining them on their tour of Port Macquarie and Newcastle in November 1821. However, soon afterwards Lachlan Macquarie found it necessary to send the heavily-indebted Hector to Van Diemen's Land to escape the demands of creditors in Sydney.

He arrived on board the Lusitania on 8 January and very quickly made himself extremely unpopular. His rudeness and arrogance led to his ejection from the home of Edward Lord (1781-1859) and his wife Maria (nee Risely), one of the leading Hobart Town families, while his advances on their eldest daughter, Caroline, were similarly unwelcome. More dramatically, his slandering of Robert Lathrop Murray (1777-1850) provoked the latter to publicly horsewhip him in front of Government House in the presence of the Lieut. Governor Sorrell's family, the soldiers of the main guard, and Lieut. Lewis of the 48th Regiment. He continued to try to ingratiate himself with the Lord family, but without success and departed for Sydney on 27 January on board the Jupiter - arriving on 10 February 1822 three days prior to the scheduled departure of the Macquaries for England. This move was obviously designed to avoid or minimise any possible confrontation with his Sydney creditors.

Hector joined the Macquaries on board the Surry as a member of their 'suite'. The ship finally sailed from Sydney on 15 February but there is virtually no mention of him in Macquarie's 1822 journal of the voyage.

On 25 March 1824 Hector was appointed a Lieutenant in 98th Regiment. He travelled with his uncle, Lachlan, from Mull to London in April 1824, bidding him goodbye at Greenwich so that he could join his regiment at Chichester. (This was probably the last time that he saw him alive - Lachlan died in London on 1 July 1824).

Hector's movements become unclear after this date; however, he joined his regiment at the Cape of Good Hope until 'some blackguard conduct' lost him the chance of the command of a company and he retired at his own request as Lieutenant (on half pay) in 4th West India Regiment on 15 March 1827. He subsequently joined his father, Charles, in Scotland and was living with him on the family estate on the isle of Ulva in 1829-1830, before returning again to the active list as a Lieutenant in the 55th Regiment on 30 December 1830.

There are even fewer biographical details after this date though he is known to have been back in England by 1835, married, and again pursued by creditors (and twice arrested). Shortly before the death of Charles Macquarie, on 27 March 1835, Hector wrote twice to his father from the ship Roxburgh Castle (in March and April), advising him that he was about to join his regiment in India, accompanied by his wife, Margaret (nee Simpson). They arrived in July 1835 but she died, apparently during childbirth, on 7 March 1836 at Bellary (in the Madras Presidency).

Hector subsequently left the 55th Regiment, and by 25 December 1838 had become a Captain (on half pay) without a regiment. His last appointment was as Staff Officer of Pensioners at Coventry. He died there on 9 January 1845.

George Allen. Journal. 5 August 1819.[Mitchell Library (ML Ref: MSS 477/1 Item 2 p.10].

Lochbuie Papers. [National Archives of Scotland  (GD 174/1-2404)].

Macquarie Papers: Letters to Charles from Lachlan Macquarie. [National Library of Scotland (MS 3833)].

Wentworth Family Papers. Letter from Robert Murray to D'Arcy Wentworth 26 January 1822. [Mitchell Library (ML Ref: A754^-1 ff.59-63)]

Supplement to the Hobart Town Gazette 28 February 1818 p.2a.

Secondary Sources:
Currie Jo. Mull: the island & its people. Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2000 pp.248-249.

Ellis, M. H. Lachlan Macquarie: His Life, Adventures and Times. Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 2nd ed. revised 1952.

Liston, Carol, " Colonial Society" in The Age of Macquarie. (eds.) James Broadbent and Joy Hughes. Melbourne: Historic Houses Trust of NSW, 1992 [see p. 26 and footnote 33 p.174].

Ritchie, John. Lachlan Macquarie: a biography. Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1986.

Munro, R.W. "Governor Lachlan Macquarie and his Family Circle" Scottish Genealogist Vol. 36 Pt. 1 1989 pp.7 - 21.

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