Brisbane Sir Thomas Macdougal

Brisbane, Sir Thomas Macdougal, was born near Largs, Ayrshire, in 1773, and entering the army, served with high distinction in Flanders, the Peninsula, North America, and elsewhere. In 1821, after holding several colonial appointments, he was sent out as Governor of New South Wales. Here he discharged his official duties with zeal and success, but his great achievement was in the field of science. He established at his own expense the astronomical observatory at Paramatta, and made a catalogue of the stars of the southern hemisphere, for which he received the Copley medal of the Royal Society. On his return to England he resumed his work at Makerstown, and his magnetic investigations proved of great value. He succeeded Sir Walter Scott as president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and died in 1860.