Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur (1788 - 1861)

Born 16 Jan 1788 in Stoke Damerel, Devon, England

Ancestors

Husband of Anna Maria (King) Macarthur — married 1812 in St Marylebone, Middlesex, England

Descendants

Died 26 Oct 1861 at age 73 in Upper Norwood, Surrey, England, United Kingdom

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Heather Stevens [send private message]

Biography

Hannibal Macarthur is Notable.

Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur, Australian pastoralist, politician and businessman

Birth: Hannibal Hawkins McArthur was born on 16 January 1788, and was baptised on 16 March 1788 at Stoke Damerel, Devonshire, his parents recorded as James and Catherine McArthur.^[1][2][3]

His father James Macarthur was the elder brother of John Macarthur (1767-1834). Persuaded by his uncle John to accompany him on his return to New South Wales he arrived at Sydney on 9 June 1805. In 1808 he returned to England by way of China and the Philippines, trading sandalwood unsuccessfully for his uncle. He arrived in England in 1810 and rejoined his uncle John, who had gone there in 1809 with Lieutenant Colonel George Johnston to explain their parts in the 1808 overthrow of Governor William Bligh.^[4]

Marriage: On 13 February 1812 at St Marylebone, Middlesex, England, Hannibal Hawkins McArthur, bachelor, married Anna Maria King by License. Anna Maria was a minor, and consent for her marriage was given by her mother, Anna Josepha King, widow. Witnesses were Charles Enderby, John McArthur and Phillip King.^[5] Anna Maria was the eldest daughter of the former New South Wales governor, Philip Gidley King. With the court forbidding his uncle John McArthur to return to New South Wales until 1817 (Johnston was cashiered after his court-martial), Hannibal and his bride returned to the colony to assist John McArthur's wife Elizabeth in the running of the estates. He also brought a cargo for resale that, frustratingly for John Macarthur, did not return high dividends.^[4]

The next year he bought, for £160, Captain Henry Waterhouse's farm, The Vineyard, on the river near Parramatta, as a residence close to Elizabeth Macarthur, and settled down to help in the whole management of the flocks, including shearing, sorting, packing and shipping of the wool. He received land grants in 1819, including 1,060 acres (429 ha) in the Cooke district and 1,000 acres (405 ha) 'in newly discovered country south of the cowpastures'. In 1820 Governor Macquarie, in his tour to the south-west, noted that Hannibal had 1,854 sheep and 165 cattle depastured on the Wollondilly River.^[4]

He was made a magistrate in 1814, and took an active part in community affairs centred on Parramatta; he joined the committee of the school for Aboriginals in 1814, and of the Female Orphan School in 1816, and in 1819 was reported to have conducted the district's first savings bank.^[4]

However in 1822 Hannibal came into conflict with Governor Brisbane, after charges of immorality were made against a fellow Parramatta magistrate Henry Grattan Douglass. This resulted in the removal by Brisbane from the Commission of Peace of Hannibal, Rev. Samuel Marsden, and three other magistrates concerned. Lord Bathurst in the Colonial Office in England initiated an inquiry which cleared Douglass. Then the Grand Jury, with Hannibal as foreman, indicted Douglass for sentencing a convict to daily flogging until he confessed where stolen goods were hidden. The Legislative Council investigated this charge and found that such sentences were not uncommon, having, indeed, been sometimes used by Hannibal and Marsden since 1815.^[4]

Hannibal was appointed a member of the colonial committee set up in 1824 to control the Australian Agricultural Company. He was one of three active members of this committee, the other two being his uncle John Macarthur's son and son-in-law. However, they received strong public condemnation when the company ran into serious difficulties in 1827. Chief Justice (Sir) Francis Forbes reflected general opinion when he argued in a letter to (Sir) Robert Wilmot Horton that the resident committee had benefited itself 'at the expense of the employers', and had divided 'between eleven and twelve thousand pounds of the company's money' in the first year".^[4]

Hannibal and his brother Charles, who died in 1827, had permission to graze stock on an extra 15,000 acres (6070 ha) surrounding his original grant of 1000 acres (405 ha) in Eden Forest, on the Wollondilly River. In 1832 the Colonial Office declined to confirm the grant; instead Hannibal was ordered to buy the land on terms. He was interested in the export of timber as well as wool. By 1826 he had also developed banking interests, with other exclusives becoming a director of the Bank of Australia, which was able that year to help the government in relieving the difficulties of 'the Old Establishment' Bank of New South Wales.^[4]

The economic depression for the colony in the late 1820s, aggravated by a severe drought in 1827 and 1828 forced Hannibal and twenty-two others to seek relief from Governor (Sir) Ralph Darling in May 1828. Darling made sympathetic concessions, and in 1829 Hannibal and 114 other landed proprietors and merchants presented an address strongly supporting Darling.^[4]

Hannibal was appointed a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 11 January 1830 to 5 January 1843, and he was returned unopposed to represent Parramatta in the new part-elective Legislative Council for the town of Parramatta from 1 June 1843 until 20 June 1848.^[6]

The depression of the early 1840s brought a dramatic change to his fortunes as it did to many other colonists. The Bank of Australia failed and was liquidated in 1843. Hannibal lost a large part of his property and he became bankrupt in 1848.^[4][7]

Hannibal retired from the Legislative Council in 1848 and moved to Ipswich, Queensland, where on 1 January 1852 he was appointed police magistrate at £250 a year, raised to £275 six months later. The deaths of his daughter, Anna in June, and his wife in September, caused him such anguish that he had a physical breakdown. He applied for two months leave and on 30 October from Goomburra, the property of his son-in-law, Patrick Leslie, sent in his resignation.^[4]

After sorting his estate, he returned to England in 1853.^[4]

Death: Hannibal Hawkins McArthur died on 26 October 1861 at Upper Norwood, Surrey, England, according to his burial and probate records.

Burial: Hannibal Hawkins McArthur was buried on 29 October 1861 in West Norwood Cemetery, London. The burial register recorded his age 74 and his abode: "Exeter removed from Upper Norwood".^[8] Apparently his grave monument no longer exists (it is described as 'destroyed' in a book about London cemeteries).^[9]

Probate: Letters of Administration of Hannibal Hawkins McArthur, Gentleman and widower, formerly of Torquay, late of Norwood in Surrey, died 26 October 1861 at Norwood, were granted to daughter Catherine Leslie (wife of Patrick Leslie Esquire) of Emmerdon House Norwood (Effects under £200).^[10]

Obituary, Sydney Morning Herald , Saturday 18 January 1862:

THE LATE MR. H. H. MACARTHUR.—The last mail brought intelligence of the death of this much respected and venerable colonist. The public of New South Wales will devoutly sympathise with the family of the deceased gentleman. He had arrived, however, at the ripe old age of seventy-five, and his numerous children and friends have the satisfaction of looking back upon a blameless and religious life, chequered, indeed, by trial and difficulty, but never tarnished or dishonoured. Mr. Macarthur was for many years a nominee member under the old Council, and was returned afterwards for Parramatta when the Legislative Council became partly elective. The remains of Mr. Macarthur were deposited in the Norwood Cemetery, followed by Major-General Macarthur, Mr. James Macarthur, Mr. Patrick Leslie, &c. ^[11]

Hannibal and Anna had six daughters and five sons, one of whom, George Fairfowl (1825-1890), was headmaster of The King's School, Parramatta, from 1869 to 1886.

Employees

Donald McDermid

Research Notes

His nephew (son of brother John McArthur) had the same name Hannibal Hawkins McArthur, and was born 25 July 1837 in Woolwich, Kent.^[12] He is probably 'Mr. Hannibal Hawkins McArthur, clerk in the pay office at the Plymouth Dockyard' in a newspaper report in the 1 August 1857 Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, when he appeared as a witness in a court case in the prosecution of a naval officer charged with forgery.^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ "England, Devon, Parish Registers, 1538-1912", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KC93-D21 : 29 July 2021), Hannibal Hawkins McArthur, 1788.
2. ↑ Hannibal Hawkins McArthur, Baptism Stoke Damerel, Devon Baptisms, Find My Past database https://www.findmypast.com.au/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FB%2F31045427%2F1 , accessed 25 September 2023
3. ↑ 1861 England Census for Hannibal H Arthur, Tormoham Devon, "Visitor, age 73, Settler New South Wales, born Stoke Damerel" Ancestry.com sharing link , accessed 25 September 2023.
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10} Bede Nairn, 'Macarthur, Hannibal Hawkins (1788–1861)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/macarthur-hannibal-hawkins-2388/text3149, published first in hardcopy 1967, accessed online 25 September 2023.
5. ↑ London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938 for Hannibal Hawkins McArthur, Westminster St Marylebone 1811-1816 Ancestry.com sharing link , accessed 25 September 2023
6. ↑ "Mr Hannibal Hawkins MACARTHUR (1788 - 1861)", Parliament of New South Wales https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/members/formermembers/Pages/former-member-details.aspx?pk=231 accessed 25 September 2023.
7. ↑ NSW State Archives Insolvency Index 1842-1887: Number INX-10-2535 MACARTHUR Hannibal H, Occupation Grazier, near Parramatta, File No 1794 Sequestration 26/06/1848 NRS-13654-1-[2/8821]-1794 https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/1e5kcq1/INDEX927336 accessed 25 September 2023.
8. ↑ London, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-2003 for Hannibal Hawkins McArthur, Lambeth, Norwood Cemetery, Norwood Road, Lambeth 1861-1866 Ancestry.com sharing link , accessed 25 September 2023
9. ↑ Hugh Meller, Brian Parsons. London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer Google books accessed 25 September 2023
10. ↑ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for Hannibal Hawkins McArthur, 1861 Mabbatt-Nyren Ancestry.com sharing link , accessed 25 September 2023
11. ↑ 1862 'THE ESCORTS.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 18 January, p. 6. , viewed 25 Sep 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13055455
12. ↑ British Civil Service Evidence Of Age, Find my past https://www.findmypast.com.au/transcript?id=GBOR%2FCSEOA%2F00035471
13. ↑ 1 August 1857 Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, British Newspapers, Find my past database https://www.findmypast.com.au/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000267%2F18570801&page=6&article=035&stringtohighlight=hannibal+hawkins+mcarthur accessed 25 September 2023.

• Bede Nairn, 'Macarthur, Hannibal Hawkins (1788–1861)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University

See Also:

• Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur, tree on Familysearch database https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LWYN-V3Q
• Find A Grave, database and images  : accessed 06 January 2020), memorial page for Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur (16 Jan 1788–21 Oct 1861), Find A Grave: Memorial #194269118, citing West Norwood Cemetery and Crematorium, West Norwood, London Borough of Lambeth, Greater London, England ; Maintained by letemrip (contributor 49084452) .
• Community contributors, Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur, Wikipedia