Anna Maria (King) Macarthur (1793 - 1852)

Born 22 Apr 1793 in Norfolk Island, Colony of New South Wales

Ancestors

Wife of Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur — married 1812 in St Marylebone, Middlesex, England

Descendants

Died 1 Sep 1852 at age 59 in Ipswich, Moreton Bay District, Colony of New South Wales

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Biography

Anna Maria Macarthur

Anna Maria King was born on 22nd April 1793 at Norfolk Island, Colony of New South Wales (Australia). She was the eldest daughter of lieutenant-governor and later governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King RN and his wife, Anna Coombe. Anna was christened on Norfolk Island. After a few years with her family back in England, Anna ventured back to New South Wales when her father was appointed governor (1800-06), following which the family returned to England once more.^[1]

In 1812 at St Marylebone, Middlesex, Anna married Hannibal Macarthur, nephew of her father's nemesis, John Macarthur. After the wedding Anna and Hannibal set sail for New South Wales, where Hannibal would assist Elizabeth Macarthur with the wool industry (John was forbidden by the courts to enter New South Wales until 1817 as a result of his part in the military coup against Governor Bligh in 1808).^[1]

On arrival, Hannibal purchased Captain Henry Waterhouse's farm, The Vineyard, on the river near Parramatta, as a residence close to Elizabeth. As well as a magistracy, land came his way and he soon had great flocks of sheep and herds of cattle in his right right, and he held a position of social prominence and financial security in the colony, reinforced by his family connexions. He had, naturally, gravitated to the ranks of the exclusives, who sought a degree of political power commensurate with their own estimate of their social worth and economic power, a policy that had enlivened the penal colony virtually from its beginnings and was intimately linked with the Macarthurs. Hannibal was appointed to the Legislative Council. The depression of the early 1840s brought a dramatic change to fortunes and he retired from the council in 1848, as his financial situation really failed. After this blow Anna and Hannibal retired to Ipswich, Moreton Bay District (Queensland), where on 1st January 1852 he was appointed police magistrate.^[1]

Their daughter, Anna, Mrs Patrick Leslie, died in June that year and Anna passed away on 1st September at Ipswich. She was survived by Hannibal, who had a physical breakdown and subsequently retired to England, five daughters and five sons, and a brother and a sister both living in Sydney.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Wikipedia profile: Hannibal Macarthur; accessed 4 Oct 2019