Lieutenant Colonel James Thomas Morisset (1780 – 17 August 1852), penal administrator, was commandant of the second

convict settlement A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer t ...

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

, from 29 June 1829 to 1834.

Military career

Born in London in 1780, he was commissioned into the 80th Regiment of Foot in 1798, seeing service in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, and was badly wounded in 1811 in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

, leaving his face badly disfigured. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1801. Transferring to the

48th Foot The 48th (Northamptonshire) Regiment of Foot was a regiment of the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1881. History Earl ...

, in 1817 he arrived in

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 ...

with his regiment. He was promoted Major in 1819. In December 1818 he was appointed as commandant and magistrate at

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

. His public works were admired by Governor Macquarie. His attention to prisoners, and attempt to adapt punishments to individual convicts was also praised by Commissioner Bigge. He was regarded as a stern disciplinarian, one historian claiming "the

cat-o'-nine-tails The cat o' nine tails, commonly shortened to the cat, is a type of multi-tailed whip or Flail (weapon), flail. It originated as an implement for physical punishment, particularly in the Royal Navy and British Army, and as a Judicial corporal pun ...

and the

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

… were in daily and almost hourly service". In 1823 he was appointed commandant at

Bathurst Bathurst may refer to: People * Bathurst (surname) * Bathurst Bellers Mann (1858–1948), Irish-born rugby union player in Wales * Bathurst Peachy (1893–1953), American college head baseball coach Places and jurisdictions Australia * Bat ...

where he led the military response after clashes with aborigines of the

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...

nation had led to

martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

being declared in the district. This included a massacre of 45 largely unarmed Wiradjuri men, women and children at Turon River in September 1824. He returned to England on leave in February 1825 where, at the age of 43, he married Emily Louisa Vaux. While in England, Morisset reported on convict control in New South Wales and applied for the post of commandant of Norfolk Island, which was about to be re-established as a penal settlement for the most hardened convicts. He was recommended for this position by

, the

Secretary of State for War and the Colonies The Secretary of State for War and the Colonies was a British cabinet-level position responsible for the army and the British colonies (other than India). The Secretary was supported by an Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. Hist ...

, and promoted lieutenant colonel, but Governor

Ralph Darling General Sir Ralph Darling, GCH (1772 – 2 April 1858) was a British Army officer who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831. His period of governorship was unpopular, with Darling being broadly regarded as a tyrant. He introd ...

appointed him instead as superintendent of police. The Governor was apparently reluctant to appoint Morisset to Norfolk Island because of the high salary he had been promised and because he insisted on taking his family. Morisset bitterly resented this (?) no proof of this statement, but in 1829 got his way and was appointed commandant of Norfolk Island. At the time the convict population was about 200 but rose to over 550 by 1831, and 700 the next year. During his tenure there the convicts made several attempts at mutiny, and he gained the reputation as a strict disciplinarian. Governor Darling regretted that "nothing but Severity has been attempted, to effect he convictsreformation'. Morisset recommended importing a

treadmill A treadmill is a device generally used for walking, running, or climbing while staying in the same place. Treadmills were introduced before the development of powered machines to harness the power of animals or humans to do work, often a type of ...

, a common form (Producing food) of punishment at the time, but the British government objected on the grounds of expense. Darling was sympathetic to Morisset, calling him "a very Zealous Officer" whose duties were of "a most arduous nature". He observed that "the Conduct of the Prisoners has of late been outrageous in the extreme, having repeatedly avowed … to Murder every one employed at the Settlement, and it is only by the utmost vigilance that they have been prevented accomplishing their object." The convicts, he noted "are Men of the most desperate Character". Morisset requested to be moved, but the government replied that he "should be reminded that it was at his own solicitations that he was appointed". The editor of a Sydney newspaper, E. S. Hall, wrote in 1832 that the convicts on Norfolk Island had been "made the prey of hunger and nakedness at the caprice of monsters in human form … and cut to pieces by the scourge … ndhave no redress or the least enquiry made into their suffering". An abortive mutiny in January 1834, which led to nine deaths and many wounded, resulted in a trial of the ringleaders being held on Norfolk Island instead of in Sydney. During his time at Norfolk Island, Morisset was dogged by ill-health, perhaps a result of his old head wound, and in 1834, because of a violent nervous disorder, was given a year's leave in Sydney,

Foster Fyans Foster Fyans (September 1790 – 23 May 1870) was an Irish military officer, penal colony administrator and public servant. He was acting commandant of the second convict settlement at Norfolk Island, the commandant of the Moreton Bay penal set ...

being appointed to act in his place. When this leave expired Morisset resigned his post. Morisset retired to farming near Bathurst, where he was appointed police magistrate. He lost heavily in a bank crash and was forced to sell his property to pay his debts. Although in ill-health he continued as magistrate until his death on 17 August 1852, leaving his wife and ten children. Three of Morisset's sons continued his tradition of military service by becoming officers in the paramilitary

Australian native police Australian native police were specialised mounted military units consisting of detachments of Aboriginal troopers under the command of European officers appointed by British colonial governments. The units existed in various forms in colonial ...

force which operated against Aboriginal groups resisting

European colonisation The phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by various civilizations such as the Phoenicians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Han Chinese, and Ar ...

. One of these sons,

Edric Norfolk Vaux Morisset Edric Norfolk Vaux Morisset (22 June 1830 – 26 August 1887) was a high-ranking officer in both the paramilitary and civilian police forces of the New South Wales and Queensland colonies of the British Empire. He was Commandant of the paramilita ...

was Commandant of this force in the early 1860s. The township of

Morisset, New South Wales Morisset ( ;) is a commercial centre and suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie local government area in the Hunter region in New South Wales, Australia. Morisset is a part of the Greater Newcastle area, it is located west of the lake of Lake Ma ...

is likely named after James Thomas Morisset. https://history.lakemac.com.au/page-local-history.aspx?pid=1085&vid=20&tmpt=narrative&narid=62

Notes

References

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

, Vol. 2. * Hazzard, Margaret, ''Punishment Short of Death: a history of the penal settlement at Norfolk Island'', Melbourne, Hyland, 1984. () (NO proof in this book to the outrageous statements) * Hughes, Robert, ''The Fatal Shore'', London, Pan, 1988. (

External links

Colonial Secretary's papers 1822-1877

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

- includes digitised letters written by Morisset to the

Colonial Secretary of New South Wales Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French colonial architecture * Spanish colonial architecture Automobiles * Col ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morisset, James 1780 births 1852 deaths 48th Regiment of Foot officers British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Norfolk Island penal colony administrators 19th-century Australian public servants Settlers of Australia South Staffordshire Regiment officers Military personnel from London