James Macarthur (15 December 1798 – 21 April 1867) was an Australian pastoralist and politician. He was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

on three occasions between 1839 and 1843, 1848 and 1856 and finally from 1866 until his death. He was also a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

between 1856 and 1859.

Early life

Macarthur was the fourth son of John Macarthur and his wife

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth ...

. He was initially privately educated in Parramatta but accompanied his father to England in 1809 in the aftermath of the

Rum Rebellion The Rum Rebellion of 1808 was a ''coup d'état'' in the British penal colony of New South Wales, staged by the New South Wales Corps in order to depose Governor William Bligh. Australia's first and only military coup, its name derives from the ...

. He stayed in Europe throughout his father's exile and completed his education in Hackney before undertaking a grand tour. On arriving back in the colony in 1817, he was given responsibility for managing his father's Camden estates. He did this assiduously and greatly increased the family's wealth and property during the next 10 years. On John Macarthur's death in April 1834, James and one of his brothers,

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

, were bequeathed

Camden Park Estate The Camden Park Estate incorporating the Belgenny Farm is a heritage-listed large working historical farm located at Elizabeth Macarthur Avenue, in the outer south-western Sydney suburb of Camden South, New South Wales, Australia. It was design ...

tenants in common In property law, a concurrent estate or co-tenancy is any of various ways in which property is owned by more than one person at a time. If more than one person owns the same property, they are commonly referred to as co-owners. Legal terminolo ...

. Macarthur was also a director of numerous colonial companies including the failing

Australian Agricultural Company The Australian Agricultural Company (AACo; ) is a public-listed Australian company that, as of 2018, owns and operates feedlots and farms covering around of land in Queensland and the Northern Territory, roughly one percent of Australia's land ...

. During two trips to England between 1827 and 1832 and in 1837–38, he improved the company's affairs and did much to promote

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. He was a financial backer of ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' newspaper by mid 1843 and was, briefly, the owner. He significantly influenced the development of the town of Camden and St Johns Anglican Church, Camden.

Political career

Colonial Parliament

Macarthur was first appointed to the Legislative Council when it was a fully nominated house on 24 October 1839. At the first election for the council after the reforms of 1842, he unsuccessfully contested the seat of County of Cumberland. After the failure of this election campaign he refused a nomination to the house but re-entered it is as the member for County of Camden after winning that seat at the election of 1848. He retained this seat until responsible self-government was granted in 1856. At the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

election under the new constitution he was elected to the Legislative Assembly as one of the two members for West Camden and he continued to represent this seat until he retired from public life at the

1859 Events January–March * January 21 – José Mariano Salas (1797–1867) becomes Conservative interim President of Mexico. * January 24 ( O. S.) – Under the rule of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia are uni ...

election. Macarthur was granted a life appointment to the Legislative Council on 24 July 1866.

Political philosophy

After coming to maturity in the post-Napoleonic era, Macarthur developed conservative political views. Consequently, after his father's insanity and death, he became the colony's leading Exclusive and was trenchant in his opposition to the granting of civil rights to Emancipists. He was a strong supporter for the end of transportation and the replacement of convicts with cheap Asian 'coolie' labour. Macarthur also proposed government subsidies for 'respectable' British immigrants and disparaged the principles of

squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

while supporting the continued granting of freehold on crown land to the wealthy and respectable elite of the colony. He also warned that self-government may lead to the enfranchisement of

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

, a prospect which he and most other white Australians of the time found offensive. However, his views were known to change according to the political milieu and his economic interests. After initially opposing the granting of representative self-government to the colony he gave it his approval when it appeared to be inevitable and any further resistance had the potential to diminish his influence in a popularly elected parliament. He also took full economic advantage of pastoral squatting despite being a firm advocate of government grants. The constitution granted to the colony in 1856 was seen by Macarthur as a dangerous experiment in liberalism and, after unsuccessfully attempting to influence the new parliament, he became disillusioned and retired to England in 1859. Under the influence of his daughter, he returned to the colony in the year before his death. Despite being one of the leading men of the colony between 1820 and 1856, Macarthur considered his political career to be a failure because most of his conservative policies were overturned as a liberal form of democracy developed in Australia. His historical legacy is largely under-valued because of his preference to use his influence away from public view.

Legacy

Macarthur had a private library of about 3,000 volumes at the time of his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macarthur, James 1798 births 1867 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council People from Parramatta Colony of New South Wales politicians Australian newspaper publishers (people) 19th-century Australian businesspeople Macarthur family (Australia)