Sir William MacBean George Colebrooke, (9 November 1787 – 6 February 1870) was an English career soldier and colonial administrator who became lieutenant governor of

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

in 1841.

Life

The son of Colonel Paulet Welbore Colebrooke, R.A. (died 1816), and a daughter of Major-General Grant, he was educated at

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

, entering the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

as a first lieutenant on 12 September 1803. In 1805 he was ordered to the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...

—first to

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, then in 1806 to

Malabar Malabar may refer to the following: People * Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India * Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion Places * Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...

, and back to Ceylon in 1807. He went to India in 1809, and served with the field army there through 1810, becoming a captain on 27 September 1810. Colebrooke next served in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

, and was wounded in the operations against the Dutch in that island in 1811; here he remained under the British occupation, and was deputy quartermaster-general in 1813, being promoted major on 1 June 1813. He was sent as political agent and commissioner to Palembong in

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, and on to

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

in 1814. He resumed his old duties in Java in 1815, and was ordered to India on the conclusion of peace and the restoration of Java to the Dutch on 19 August 1816. He served through the

Third Anglo-Maratha War The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the English East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha ter ...

of 1817–8, and accompanied the expedition to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

in 1818. He returned to England in 1821. From 1822 to 1832 Colebrooke was one of the commissioners of what was known as the

Colebrooke–Cameron Commission The Colebrooke–Cameron Commission was appointed in 1833 as a Royal Commission of Eastern Inquiry by the British Colonial Office to assess the administration of the island of Ceylon and to make recommendations for administrative, financial, econ ...

(Eastern Inquiry): a long and elaborate investigation into the administration and revenues of

, where he resided on the business of the inquiry from 1825 to 1831. On 9 September 1834 he became Lieutenant-Governor of the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

; he went by way of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, spending about a month there and arriving at Nassau on a ship-of-war on 26 February 1835. His first speech to the Assembly was on 7 April 1835. He administered the colony during the days when

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

gave way to the apprenticeship system prior to its final abolition. On 13 February 1837 he was gazetted as Governor of the Leeward Islands, being at the time on leave in England. He assumed the government of

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

and the other islands on 11 May 1837, and one of his earliest official acts was the proclamation of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

. In this government, as in the Bahamas, he tried to improve education and reform prison discipline; he also urged the restoration of the old general council of the Leewards. On 25 July 1840 he left Antigua for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, and after an extended leave was on 26 March 1841 made lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick. Here his tenure of office was uneventful, the question of the

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

boundary being the chief public matter affecting the colony at that time; he did, however, suggest a special scheme for colonisation, which had no practical results. On 9 November 1846 he became Colonel in the army, though he was not Colonel of artillery until later. On 27 November 1847 he was gazetted to British Guiana, but never took up the appointment, going instead on 11 August 1848, as governor, to

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, where he also administered the

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean Sea No ...

. Colebrooke worked for the suppression of crime and the improvement of the prisons. He also suggested a federation of all the Windward Islands, anticipating later proposals. In 1854 the withdrawal of imperial troops from the smaller islands caused some apprehension, but the peace of the islands was not really disturbed. He became

Major-general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

on 20 June 1854. In January 1856 he relinquished his government and returned to England. He was promoted Lieutenant-general on 16 January 1859 and general 26 December 1865, and he was colonel commanding the Royal Artillery from 25 September 1859 until his death. He resided at

Salt Hill Salt Hill is a district within the unitary authority of Slough in Berkshire in the south of England, close to London. Before 1974, Salt Hill was part of Buckinghamshire. It is to the north of Chalvey and the Great West Road, surrounding Sa ...

, near Slough, Buckinghamshire, where he died on 6 February 1870. He had become K.H. in 1834,

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

in 1837, and received C.B. (civil) in 1848.

Family

Colebrooke married, in 1820, Emma Sophia, daughter of Lieutenant-colonel Robert Colebrooke (died 1808), surveyor-general of Bengal; she died in 1851.

References

;Attribution

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colebrooke, William MacBean George 1787 births 1870 deaths Governors of the Colony of New Brunswick Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich British Army generals Royal Artillery officers People from Charlton, London British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Maratha War Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of the Bath British governors of the Bahamas Governors of Antigua and Barbuda Governors of Barbados Governors of the Windward Islands British people in colonial India