Robert Power (1794 – 15 February 1869) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer and

Surveyor General of Tasmania Surveyor General of Tasmania is a position originally created for the colony of Van Diemens Land (Tasmania from 1855 now a state of Australia). List of Surveyors General of Tasmania See also * Surveyor General of New South Wales * Surveyor Gener ...

, (then the colony of Van Diemen's Land, now a state of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Early life

Power was born in Knockbrit,

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

to Edmund Power and Ellen Sheehy. His father was a landowner and the sometime editor of the

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

Gazette. His mother was the daughter of Edmund Sheehy, who was executed as an accessory to

Nicholas Sheehy Father Nicholas Sheehy (1728–1766) was an 18th-century Irish Roman Catholic priest who was executed on the charge of being an accessory to murder. Father Sheehy was a prominent and vocal opponent of the Penal Laws, which subjected the whole C ...

, his cousin. He was the brother of the Marguerite Gardiner, the Countess of Blessington, a novelist, biographer and a literary hostess.

Military career

He joined the Leitrim Militia before volunteering with the

91st (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot The 91st (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a Line Regiment of the British Army, raised in 1794. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot to form the Argyll and Sutherland Hi ...

. Power was commissioned lieutenant in the

73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot The 73rd Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1780. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 42nd Regiment of Foot to form the Black Watch, Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) in 1881. History Form ...

in 1815, then as captain in 1817 in the 20th Regiment of Foot. While serving in the 20th Regiment of Foot, he was stationed on the island of

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

, as a captain in the Saint Helena Regiment. In 1823 Power resigned from the army, in 1838 he was appointed at the rate of 300 pounds deputy-commissioner of crown lands and forests and deputy surveyor general in the

British North American British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...

province of

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

Career in Tasmania

In 1840 Power was sent to

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...

(later renamed Tasmania), he arrived in

Hobart 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 hal ...

in June 1841. Power was gazetted as Surveyor General of Van Diemen's Land in July 1841, after replacing the ineffective Edward Boyd. Power introduced a system of land leases which greatly increased revenue as the depression of the preceding years eased. He remained as Surveyor General until 1 July 1857. Power was appointed

Serjeant-at-arms A serjeant-at-arms or sergeant-at-arms is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin , which means "servant". Historically, serjeants-at-ar ...

of the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

, in July 1866 he became

Usher of the black rod The usher of the Black Rod is an official in the parliaments of several countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. The title is often shortened to Black Rod, and in some countries, formally known as Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod or Lady Usher ...

. Power died in Hobart on 15 February 1869.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Power, Robert 1794 births 1869 deaths Surveyors General of Tasmania Canadian surveyors Lancashire Fusiliers officers 73rd Regiment of Foot officers Irish soldiers in the British Army Military personnel from County Tipperary