William Paterson ( 1755 - 1810 )

Birth: Montrose, Scotland, United Kingdom (17 August 1755) Death: On board the ship HMS 'Dromedary' (21 June 1810) Profession: Soldier; colonial administrator Research field: Botany Educations: Trained in horticulture at Syon in London Career: Entered the army; went on expeditions in South Africa (1777-1779); gazetted to the 98th Regiment and sent to India; chosen to command a company of the New South Wales Corps to protect convict settlement at Botany Bay, Australia (went there 1791); served in command on Norfolk Island (November 1791-March 1793), whilst there he collected botanical, geological and insect specimens and sent them to Joseph Banks PRS; Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales (1794, 1806-1808); in 1795, Paterson gave an order that resulted in the massacre of a number of men, women and children of the Bediagal tribe in retaliation for the killing of two settlers; led an expedition to the Hunter Region (1801); in 1804 led a settlement expedition to Port Dalrymple in the north of Van Diemen's Land and became Commandent of the colony (1804-1808) where he again collected specimens for Banks; administered government at Sydney as acting Lieutenant Governor after deposition of William Bligh FRS (1809); Paterson River and Mountain, New South Wales, and Paterson Creek, Tasmania, named after him, died on the passage home to England, off Cape Horn on HMS 'Dromedary' Membership: Fellow Election Date: 10/05/1798.