John Urquhart had been a shadowy figure so far. I had only his name and apparent appointment date as an Assistant Gold Commissioner from the Blue Book 1853 [01].

I needed to find an image of a Government camp for this website and remembered that W B Kimberley’s Bendigo and Vicinity [02] had a sketch of the “Bendigo Government Camp in 1853, reproduced from sketch supplied by J A Panton [Joseph Anderson Panton], Resident Commissioner.” The sketch was accompanied by a list of “some of the Government officers who were stationed on Bendigo Government camps in the [18] fifties,” also provided by Panton.

Panton’s list was apparently compiled in the early 1890s, so some of the information shows that Panton was aware of the later careers of some of the men and that some had died by the early 1890s The electronic copy I have of Bendigo and Vicinity is from the British Library website. It has a hand-written list correcting some of the names in Panton’s list.

Panton’s list includes the following Golden Colony men:

Panton described Urquhart as “Captain John Urquhart, 1853-54, afterwards Paymaster 21st Regiment.” So, apparently a Captain in the British Army. Panton’s memoirs, however, (as edited and annotated by the late Hugh Anderson) mention “Captain John Urquhart, formerly of the Royal Marines” (pages 105 and 108) [03].

Hugh Anderson’s notes about Urquhart (page 105) add a bit about Urquhart’s career. Anderson specifically references the Navy List and apparently had access to a couple of issues of the Army List, but is uncertain about Urquhart’s later career. Anderson’s note tells part of the story, so I will quote it in full:

“Captain John Urquhart RM had a colourful and varied career, beginning as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1828 and rising to rank of Captain by November 1846. About 1853 he apparently wrote critically of the Admiralty in The Naval and Military Gazette and was dismissed. According to the Navy List, he was on full pay until September 1852, but reduced to half-pay in 1853 until 1854. It appears when he went to Castlemaine as a witness in a court case he was in what was described as a “scrape.” An internal investigation may have led to his sacking. Later, he was supposedly in China when the Taku Forts were taken and still later it was rumoured he was cashiered in India. When last heard of, Urquhart was likely the paymaster of the 21st Fusiliers at Malta, although a person of the same name was listed as paymaster of the 27th Regiment in 1859. (Navy List, 1852, 1853, 1854.)” [04].

Having this starting point, the first step in a deeper dive into Urquhart’s military career was to pick an issue of Hart’s unofficial New Annual Army List (Hart) [05], rather than the official A List of the Officers of the Army (Army List) [06]. The Army List, under each unit, has the officer’s rank and the dates he achieved that rank in the army and the regiment. Hart lists each of the officer’s ranks to publication date, the date of attaining the rank, and whether the commission was purchased. It also shows the numbers of years service, on both full pay and half pay, and – where appropriate – notes on highlights of the officer’s service.

I chose 1859 edition of Hart as a starting point [07]. Hart’s lists have a lot more detail that the official Army List. Sure enough, there was John Urquhart: Paymaster of the 21st Regiment of Foot (the Royal North British Fusiliers) and the dates of his appointments to 2nd Lieutenant (1828), Lieutenant (1837), Captain (1846), and Paymaster (1850). This gives a timeframe to work with as he was most likely around 18 when he became a 2nd Lieutenant, so born around 1810. The Hart entry does not specifically mention Royal Marines service but adds details of service in the Scinde (India) in 1839 and later in Chusan and Canton in China.

The 1850 appointment as Paymaster at first seemed problematic. Does this mean that this Captain Urquhart wasn’t our Commissioner Urquhart? Not necessarily. All this meant was that he been appointed a Paymaster for the first time in 1850, not necessarily to the 21st Regiment.

Next was to go through various issues of both the Army List and Hart to build a timeline of units he served with. This turned out to be from 1828 to his death in 1861.

The issues of the Army List that have been digitised at the UK National Archives are particularly interesting, as they have many hand-written annotations recording changes since publication and preparing for subsequent issues – and also some things that will not be published. I had also found a death notice on Trove that gave his death as 9 September 1861 in Morar, Gwalior [India] [08]. The 1861 Army List had this death date as an annotation. The published Army Lists usually only note the year of death. The resulting timeline is here. What was interesting was that Urquhart was a member of Royal Marines for his entire career – from 1828 to 1861. He was on half pay from 1852 and was allowed to be appointed Paymaster of the 59th Regiment (British Army) from 1850 to 1852, Staff Paymaster of the British Swiss Legion from 1855 to 1857, Paymaster of the 21st Regiment from 1857 to 1859, and Paymaster of the 27th Regiment from 1859 until his death in 1861. This leaves a gap from 1852 to 1855 that fits nicely with Urquhart’s time as Commissioner in 1853. See More on Urquhart’s Military Career for details of appointments.

This step was followed by a similar review of issues of Hart. Hart was first published in 1840 and I have digital copies of the issues that I needed to look at, except 1860. These come from Google Books and the Internet Archive. Some are poor or incomplete scans, but all this data from the two main source sets – the Army List and Hart – build a solid structure. An additional validation is to find the relevant London Gazette notifications of promotions and assignments, which can also identify any that happened between the annual army lists. Most of these have now been found.

There were no other John Urquharts serving in the same period, though there was a John Henry Urquhart, a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1860.

Now, who was the “Captain Burnet” Panton refers to in Bendigo and Vicinity? Panton mentions Captain Bernal in his memoirs, but not a “Captain Burnet,” so “Burnet” was Bernal. It is just as likely that “Burnet” was a misprint.

Augustus Woodley Bernal was a Lieutenant with the 7th Lancers of the East India Company’s Madras army on retirement from that service in 1851, but not a Captain. Retired army officers with the rank of Captain and above were entitled to use their rank in civilian life in the 19th Century, if they so chose. Not so a retired Lieutenant, unless they later attain higher rank in militias or volunteer units. In the 20th Century, this was generally Major and above.

I believe that Panton’s memory was incorrect in this case, probably as most of the ex-army men he worked with were retired Captains. He names Dane, Murray, Standish, Stewart, and Urquhart as Captains, and indeed they were. Standish was actually a 2nd Captain in the Royal Artillery.

Barnard had been a Lieutenant in the 21st Regiment and Panton correctly does not identify a rank. Rudston Read had been in the Royal Navy with the rank of Lieutenant. Unlike the army, navy Lieutenants could use their rank in civilian life, but Panton only mentions him as “Rudolph [sic] Read, RN.” Rudston Read had been dismissed from the Royal Navy.

It is worth noting that the Chief Gold Commissioner, William Henry Wright, was also ex-army – and a graduate of Sandhurst – but had retired as a Lieutenant, so did not use his rank in civilian life.

Panton also mentions a Captain Barry in his memoirs. Captain Barry was St Leger Barry, brother of Sir Redmond Barry . He was a Captain, an Assistant Gold Commissioner in 1853-1854, and, like “Captain Burnet,” had “retired and returned to England.”