Philip Gidley King
| Philip Gidley King | |
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| Born | 23 April 1758 Launceston, Cornwall, England. |
| Died | 3 September 1808 London, England |
| Term | 1800 - 1806 |
| Predecessor | John Hunter |
| Successor | William Bligh |
| Spouse | Anna Josepha Coombe |
| Children | Philip Parker King |
Philip Gidley King (April 23, 1758 – September 3, 1808) was a sailor in the British Royal Navy who became the third Governor of New South Wales.[1]
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[change] Early life
King was born in Launceston, Cornwall. His father was a draper, selling cloth and fabrics.[1] He joined the navy in 1770 at the age of 12. He was made the captain's servant on the HMS Swallow. He served in the West Indies and then fought in the American War of Independence.[1] He became a midshipman and later a lieutenant. He served with Captain Arthur Phillip in HMS Ariadne. He went to India with Phillip in 1783 in the ship HMS Europe. Phillip was very pleased with King.[1] He made King a lieutenant on HMS Sirius when he took the First Fleet to Australia in 1787 to start the penal colony.
[change] Norfolk Island
Three weeks after the First Fleet got to Sydney, Governor Phillip sent King to Norfolk Island. His task was to set up a small penal colony that would make use of the timber and flax growing on the island. These would be of use to the British Navy. He arrived at the island on March 3, 1788.[1] There was no safe place to land on the island and this made it a difficult place to have a settlement. King had a group of 23 people including 15 convicts.[1] Over the next two years they began clearing land (removing trees) to grow crops and to raise cattle and other animals. King was made Lieutenant-Governor of Norfolk Island. In March 1790, Phillip sent King back to England.[1] He was to go back and tell the British government about the problems of the new settlements in Australia.
King stayed in London for about four months. He married Anna Josepha Coombe on March 11, 1791, and they left for Australia four days later.[1] After reporting to Phillip in Sydney, they were back on Norfolk Island in November, where his son Phillip Parker King was born.
[change] Return to Norfolk Island
While he had been away, Norfolk had been governed by Lieutenant-Governor Robert Ross. Phillip had moved Ross to the island because of his difficulties in working with him. When King arrived, the convicts, settlers and soldiers were very unhappy because of Ross's leadership. King made new rules, which made things better for people who wanted to settle on the island, many of whom had been marines or convicts. In 1794 the island was growing all of the wheat it needed, and had so many pigs it was able to send food to Sydney.[1]
The flax on the island was too hard to turn into cloth. Two Maoris from New Zealand were kidnapped and brought to Norfolk to teach people how to work the flax. The two men did not know about flax, in New Zealand it was work done by the women. In November 1793, King left the island for ten days to take the men back home. He did not have permission to leave and got into trouble from Lieutenant-Governor Francis Grose. King also had problems with many of the soldiers. They said he punished them more than the convicts. King arrested 20 soldiers and charged them with mutiny, and sent them to Sydney. Grose released the soldiers and told the soldiers on Norfolk that they were in charge, not King. These orders were later changed by the Duke of Portland.
King became ill, and Governor John Hunter let him go back to England to get medical treatment.
