Major-General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet (23 July 1773 – 27 January 1860) was a British Army officer, colonial administrator and astronomer. He served in many important wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including front-line action during the Peninsular War. Upon the recommendation of the Duke of Wellington, with whom Brisbane had served, he was appointed as Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825. In the colony, he implemented expansionist land policies that benefited wealthy colonists, while also augmenting the system of convict punishment. A keen astronomer, he built the colony's second observatory and encouraged scientific and agricultural training. Brisbane also declared martial law against the Indigenous Wiradjuri people to quash their resistance to colonisation. The convict settlement of Brisbane established during his tenure was named in his honour and is now the third-largest city in Australia.
Early life Brisbane was born in 1773 at Brisbane House in Noddsdale, near Largs in Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of Sir Thomas Brisbane and his wife Eleanora (née Bruce). He was born into an aristocratic military family and as a child was home educated by prestigious tutors. As a teenager, he was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and later boarded at an English academy in Kensington, London, where he learnt mathematics and astronomy.
Military career In 1789, Brisbane was commissioned into the British Army's 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot as a junior officer and was posted to Ireland.
French Revolutionary Wars Following Revolutionary France's declaration of war against Britain on 1 February 1793, Brisbane transferred to the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot and fought in the Low Countries theatre of the War of the First Coalition under the Duke of York. Between June 1793 and November 1794, Brisbane participated in the siege of Valenciennes, siege of Dunkirk, siege of Nieuwpoort, siege of Landrecies, Battle of Tournay and siege of Nijmegen. Following the fall of Nijmegen to the French in November 1794, the British army in the Low Countries was evacuated and returned to England in spring 1795.
West Indies In November 1795, the 53rd Foot was sent to the West Indies. Brisbane took part in the capture of Saint Lucia from the French in May 1796, participating in the storming of Morne Fortune on 24 May. Later in the same year, he fought in the Second Carib War, an uprising by Kalinago and Garifuna people under Joseph Chatoyer against British rule in Saint Vincent. During the uprising, Brisbane personally killed the Kalinago chief Taquin in combat and subsequently participated in the deportation of the Garifuna to the small island of Baliceaux in the Grenadines. In the following year, Brisbane was present at the capture of Trinidad in February and the failed invasion of Puerto Rico in April. Brisbane then transferred to the 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot which returned to England in 1802 after being stationed in the British colony of Jamaica.
Peninsular War After a brief period of being retired on half-pay, Brisbane was appointed as an army assistant in the Adjutant-General's office, serving under the Duke of Wellington. In 1813 he was promoted to major general in the 74th Regiment and saw much action during the Peninsular War, including leading a brigade in the 3rd Division that broke through at the Battle of Vitoria. For his services in the Peninsula War, Brisbane received the Army Gold Cross with one clasp for the battles of Vitoria, the Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthez and Toulouse; and the silver war medal with one clasp for the Nive.
North America With the forces of Napoleon all but defeated, Brisbane was appointed as a brigade commander to lead troops in the concurrent War of 1812 with the United States. In 1814 he led a brigade at the Battle of Plattsburgh, which Brisbane claimed the British troops present could have won if they had been allowed to launch a full infantry attack. During the battle, he used the Charles C. Platt Homestead as his headquarters.
Paris occupying force
With the British defeat at Plattsburgh and the Napoleonic forces finally being vanquished at the Battle of Waterloo, Brisbane was returned to Europe and given command of twelve regiments to occupy Paris in accordance with the Treaty of Paris. From 1815 to 1818, Brisbane remained in Paris before the occupation forces were recalled to England. In November 1819 he married Anna Maria Hay Makdougall of Makerstoun, Roxburghshire, Scotland. On his father-in-law's death, Brisbane assumed the additional surname, becoming Makdougall Brisbane.
Governor of New South Wales
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