Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Henry William St Pierre Bunbury CB (2 September 1812 – 18 September 1875) was a

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 Gurkha ...

officer who served for periods in Australia, South Africa, and India.

Early life

Bunbury was the son of Lt.-Gen.

Sir Henry Bunbury, 7th Baronet Sir Henry Edward Bunbury, KCB, 7th Baronet (4 March 1778 – 13 April 1860) was a British soldier and historian. Life Sir Henry, son of the famous caricaturist, Henry William Bunbury and Catherine Horneck, was educated at Westminster, and served ...

, who served as Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. His mother, Louisa Amelia, was the daughter of Henry Edward Fox and the granddaughter of Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland. Bunbury's brothers, Sir Charles and Sir Edward, had prominent careers of their own. At the age of 18, Bunbury was commissioned as an ensign in the

43rd Regiment of Foot The 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) to form the 1st and 2nd battalions of th ...

. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1833 and transferred to the 21st Regiment of Foot. Bunbury was then sent out to Australia, stationed in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

from 1834 to 1835,

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sep ...

from 1835 to 1836, and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

from 1836 to 1837. In New South Wales, he served as aide-de-camp to Sir

Richard Bourke General Sir Richard Bourke, KCB (4 May 1777 – 12 August 1855), was an Irish-born British Army officer who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1831 to 1837. As a lifelong Whig (Liberal), he encouraged the emancipation of convicts and ...

, the

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the A ...

Colony of Western Australia

Bunbury arrived in the Colony of Western Australia in March 1836, and was sent by Governor James Stirling to explore the districts around Williams and

Busselton Busselton is a city in the South West region of the state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destination for Western Australians; however, the closure of the Busselton ...

and establish outposts. He kept a detailed diary, which provides valuable information about pre-settlement Aboriginal customs. One of the townships that Stirling had him establish was named Bunbury in his honour, and is now Western Australia's third-largest city. In July 1836 Bunbury was sent to York "to make war upon the native" and by 1837 around one third of the Swan River colony's troops were stationed in the

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

and Toodyay area. In July 1836 Bunbury wrote "I do not find the life very pleasant. I hope, however, it will not last very long as the Natives seem inclined to be quiet since I shot a few of them one night." On 9 July 1836 '' The Perth Gazette'' reported a rumour of an attack in the York area of a night attack on

Ballardong Ballardong are an indigenous Noongar people of the south western area of Western Australia. Country The Ballardong's land encompasses an estimated . Northwards they occupy the Avon River. From York, To the east they extend to Tammin, Kununop ...

Noongar people in which several were wounded and a woman was killed. In September 1836, Arthur Trimmer, the farming business partner of the resident magistrate Revett Henry Bland, got his servant Ned Gallop to hide in the loft of their barn with his guns waiting for

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Au ...

men who were stealing flour. One "fine young" Noongar man was "wantonly" shot dead while walking away and two others were injured. Bunbury was sent again to York to keep the peace and wrote: Trimmer's "character never could recover from this foul stain". In retaliation a shepherd called Knott was speared by Ballardong warriors Wainupwort and Dyott, an incident which Bunbury investigated with Bland. This incident resulted in more punitive action from troops led by Bunbury. By October 1836 Bunbury was back in Perth and was then sent down to the Vasse area. In July 1837 Bunbury was again sent to the York area after two colonial settlers Peter Chidlow and Edward Jones were speared by a group of around 40 Ballardong warriors after the arrest of two Noongar men, Durgap and his son Garbung, for stealing. They had been taken to Perth for punishment and the Ballardong people thought they would be killed without trial, like

Midgegooroo Midgegooroo (died 22 May 1833) was an Aboriginal Australian elder of the Nyungar nation, who played a key role in Aboriginal resistance to white settlement in the area of Perth, Western Australia. Everything documented about Midgegooroo (variou ...

had been. Stirling sent Bunbury and extra troops to York with instructions to make "proper examples of Severity to the full extent to which the Law warrants in such cases" so that "the natives may be deterred from the Commission of further outrage". In his notebook titled "Odds and Ends", Bunbury noted the names of eighteen Ballardong people who were killed during the following months.Battye Library 327A

South Africa and India

Leaving Western Australia in November 1837, Bunbury went to South Africa, where he was aide-de-camp to the Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir

George Napier Colonel George Napier (11 March 1751 – 13 October 1804), styled "The Honourable", was a British Army officer, most notable for his marriage to Lady Sarah Lennox, and for his sons Charles James Napier, William Francis Patrick Napier and George ...

. He married Napier's daughter Cecilia in November 1852, and they had four children together. Bunbury served on the North-West Frontier of India and in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

before retiring in 1862. He retired with the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

, and was admitted into the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) a ...

References

Australian Dictionary of Biography

Early life

Colony of Western Australia

South Africa and India

See also

References

Further reading