Henry Macdermott (1798 – 1 February 1848) was an Irish-born politician and merchant in the

colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

. He served as

mayor of Sydney The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of Sydney is the head of the Council of the City of Sydney, which is the local government area covering the central business district of Sydney in the State of New South Wales, Australia. The Lord Mayor has be ...

in 1845. He was a sergeant-major in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

Biography

Macdermott was born to a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

family in

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

. His father was a British Army officer. Having enlisted in 1820, Macdermott was a sergeant with the 39th Regiment by the time he had arrived in Australia in 1827. His military career ended in 1831, having achieved the rank of sergeant-major. He was elected as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

for the

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

in 1842. He was mayor in 1845, before resigning from council in August 1847 due to bankruptcy. In 1837, Macdermott married Catherine Small in Sydney. The couple had at least five children. He died on 1 February 1848, aged 49.

References

1798 births 1848 deaths 19th-century Australian politicians 19th-century British Army personnel Mayors and Lord Mayors of Sydney Irish emigrants to colonial Australia Irish Protestants Dorset Regiment soldiers Military personnel from County Roscommon {{Australia-mayor-stub