Charles Rowcroft (1798, London – 1856), pastoralist and novelist, the son of Thomas Edward Rowcroft, a British consul in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. Rowcroft was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England *Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States *Éton, a commune in the Meuse depa ...

, after which he went to

Hobart Town Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly half ...

, Australia, in 1821 and took up a grant of 2,000 acres (8 km²), near

Bothwell Bothwell () is a Protected area, conservation village in the South Lanarkshire council area of Scotland and part of the Greater Glasgow area. It lies on the north bank of the River Clyde, adjacent to Uddingston and Hamilton, Scotland, Hamilton, ...

, where he and his brother Horace (Horatio Nelson Rowcroft) were among the first European settlers. In 1822 he was made a justice of the peace, he was also a member of the committee of the Agricultural Society of Van Diemen's Land and an original shareholder of the Van Diemen's Land Bank. He unsuccessfully applied for the position of colonial secretary in 1823. In 1824 he was sued, successfully, for "

criminal conversation At common law, criminal conversation, often abbreviated as ''crim. con.'', is a tort arising from adultery. "Conversation" is an old euphemism for sexual intercourse that is obsolete except as part of this term. It is similar to breach of pr ...

", by Edward Lord, with damages of £100 awarded against Rowcroft. He returned to England in 1826. In 1827 Rowcroft bought a boarding school in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

, London. In 1843 he published ''Tales of the Colonies'', the first Australian novel of the immigrant genre, followed by ''The Bushranger of Van Diemen's Land'' (1846). Another of his novels, ''An Emigrant in Search of a Colony'' (1851), is also connected with Australia. Rowcroft was appointed the first British consul to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

i in 1852. He sailed from New York to return to England on 17 August 1856 but died at sea on 23 August. He was survived by his wife and two daughters and three sons.

References

* ''The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'', second edition, 1994,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

.
Australian Dictionary of Biography

External links

* * 1798 births 1856 deaths People educated at Eton College British diplomats English emigrants to colonial Australia English male novelists 19th-century English novelists 19th-century English male writers 19th-century Australian novelists 19th-century British male writers Van Diemen's Land people {{UK-novelist-stub