Saxe Bannister (1790 – 16 September 1877) was a writer and the first

Attorney-General of New South Wales The Attorney General of New South Wales, in formal contexts also Attorney-General or Attorney General for New South Wales and usually known simply as the Attorney General, is a minister in the Government of New South Wales who has responsibili ...

, Australia.

Early life and education

Bannister was born in

Steyning Steyning ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles (6.4 km) north of the coastal town of Shoreham-by-Sea. The smaller ...

, Sussex, son of John Bannister. He matriculated at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

, in December 1808 and graduated B.A. 1813, M.A. 1815.

Career

Bannister volunteered for active service when

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

escaped from Elba. With a captain's commission, he was on his way to Belgium when the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

ended the war. He retired from the army on half-pay and was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

Attorney-General of New South Wales

Bannister was appointed the first attorney-general of New South Wales in March 1823, and he arrived in Sydney early in 1824. On 17 May 1824, he was sworn in at the first sitting of the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court ...

. He had been given a salary of £1,200 a year with the right to practise as a barrister, but he became discontented with his position; in October 1825, he was in conflict with Governor

Thomas Brisbane Major General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet, (23 July 1773 – 27 January 1860), was a British Army officer, administrator, and astronomer. Upon the recommendation of the Duke of Wellington, with whom he had served, he was appoint ...

on the question whether he was bound to draft a bill which seemed to him to be repugnant to the laws of England. Bannister appeared to have taken his office and his responsibilities far too seriously; and, though Governor

Ralph Darling General Sir Ralph Darling, GCH (1772 – 2 April 1858) was a British Army officer who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831. He is popularly described as a tyrant, accused of torturing prisoners and banning theatrical entertai ...

spoke of Bannister as "often misled by an injudicious zeal, but indefatigable, conscientious and honourable in the highest degree", Bannister found it extremely difficult to work with him. In September 1826, in a dispatch to under-secretary Hay, Darling described one of Bannister's letters to the governor as "very offensive and insolent".

Resignation as Attorney-General of New South Wales

In April 1826, Bannister wrote to Darling to say that he could no longer hold his office at its present remuneration. On 13 October 1826, he was informed that his resignation had been accepted. This furnished Bannister with a grievance for the rest of his long life. Soon after his resignation, he fought a "harmess duel" with barrister and newspaper editor,

Robert Wardell Robert Wardell, marble tablet, St James Church, Sydney Robert Wardell (1793 – 7 September 1834) was an English-born Australian barrister and newspaper editor. Early life Wardell was born in England and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge ...

. He left for England on 22 October 1826 and afterwards did a large amount of writing; the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Catalogue lists about 30 of his publications. Many are pamphlets but among the longer works are: ''Statements and Documents relating to Proceedings in New South Wales in 1824, 1825 and 1826'' (1827), ''Humane Policy; or Justice to the Aborigines'' (1830), ''British Colonization and Coloured Tribes'' (1838), and '' William Paterson, the Merchant Statesman'' (1858).

Death

Bannister died at

Thornton Heath Thornton Heath is a district of Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is around north of the town of Croydon, and south of Charing Cross. Prior to the creation of Greater London in 1965, Thornton Heath was in the Co ...

, England, on 16 September 1877, survived by his wife and a daughter, Mrs Wyndham.

References

External links

Colonial Secretary's papers 1822-1877

State Library of Queensland The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988. It contai ...

- includes digitised correspondence and letters written by Bannister to the

Colonial Secretary of New South Wales Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannister, Saxe 1790 births 1877 deaths Australian non-fiction writers Attorneys General of the Colony of New South Wales Lawyers from Sydney Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford People from Steyning 19th-century Australian politicians Australian duellists