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WENTWORTH, WILLIAM CHARLES (1793-1872)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 521 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WENTWORTH, See also:WILLIAM See also:CHARLES (1793-1872) , the " Australian patriot," who claimed descent from the See also:great See also:Strafford, but apparently without sufficient See also:reason, was See also:born in 1793 in See also:Norfolk See also:Island, the penal See also:settlement of New See also:South See also:Wales, where his See also:father D'Arcy Wentworth, an Irish See also:gentleman of See also:Roscommon See also:family, who had emigrated in 1790 and later became a prominent See also:official, was then See also:government surgeon. The son was educated in See also:England, but he spent the See also:interval between his schooling at See also:Greenwich and his matriculation (1816) at Peterhouse, See also:Cambridge, in See also:Australia, and See also:early attracted the See also:attention of See also:Governor See also:Macquarie by some adventurous exploration in the See also:Blue Mountains. In 1819 he published in See also:London a See also:work on See also:Australasia in two volumes, and in 1823 he only just missed the See also:chancellor's See also:medal at Cambridge (won by W. M. See also:Praed) with a stirring poem on the same subject. Having been called to the See also:bar, he returned to See also:Sydney, and soon obtained a See also:fine practice. With a See also:fellow See also:barrister, Wardell, he started a newspaper, the Australian, in 1824, to See also:advocate the cause of self-government and to See also:champion the " emancipists "—the incoming class of ex-convicts, now freed and prospering—against the " exclusivists " —the officials and the more aristocratic settlers. With Wardell, Dr William Bland and others, he formed the " Patriotic Association," and carried on a deter-See also:mined agitation both in Australia and in England, where; they found able supporters. The earlier See also:object of their attack was the governor, See also:Sir See also:Ralph See also:Darling, who was recalled in 1831 in consequence, though he was acquitted by a select See also:committee of the See also:House of See also:Commons of the charges brought against him by Wentworth in connexion with his severe See also:punishment of two soldiers, Sudds and See also:Thompson, who had perpetrated a See also:robbery in See also:order to obtain their See also:discharge (a favourite See also:dodge at the See also:time), and one of whom, Sudds, had died. Wentworth continued, under the succeeding governor, Sir See also:Richard See also:Bourke, who was guided by him, and Sir See also:George Gipps, with whom he had See also:constant See also:differences, to exercise a powerful See also:influence; and in 1842, when the Constitution See also:Act was passed, it was generally recognized as mainly his work. He became a member of the first legislative See also:council and led the " squatter party." He was the founder of the university of Sydney (1852), where his son afterwards founded bursaries in his See also:honour; and he led the See also:movement resulting in the new constitution for the See also:colony (1854), subsequently (1861) becoming See also:president of the new legislative council. But things had meanwhile moved fast in the colony, and Wentworth's old supremacy had waned, since See also:Robert See also:Lowe (afterwards See also:Lord See also:Sherbrooke) and others had come into prominence in the See also:political See also:arena.

He had done his work for colonial See also:

autonomy, and was becoming an old See also:man, somewhat out of See also:touch with the new See also:generation. For some years before 1861 he stayed chiefly in England, where in 1857 he founded the " See also:General Association for the Australian Colonies," with the object of obtaining from the government a federal See also:assembly for the whole of Australia; and in 1862 he definitely settled in England, dying on the 20th of See also:March 1872. His See also:body was taken to Sydney and accorded a public funeral by the unanimous See also:vote of the New South Wales legislature.

End of Article: WENTWORTH, WILLIAM CHARLES (1793-1872)

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