Henry Marjoribanks Chester (30 December 1832 – 3 October 1914) was a public servant and police magistrate in colonial

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. Chester was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, son of William Chester, and educated at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553. ...

, the London School in Newgate Street and the

Royal Mathematical School Royal Mathematical School is a branch of Christ's Hospital, founded by Charles II. It is currently Christ's Hospital's Maths Department. History It was established so that potential sailors could learn navigation and mathematicians could train ...

. In 1849 Chester entered the service of the Indian navy and remained an officer in it until its abolition in 1862. Chester was in the Queensland Government service from 1876, and in 1877 was sent on an exploring expedition to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

. In July of the next year Chester was appointed by Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore to represent him in New Guinea in his capacity as

High Commissioner of the Western Pacific The British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) was the name of a colonial entity, created in 1877, for the administration, under a single representative of the British Crown, styled High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, of a series of Pac ...

. In 1883, when Sir

Thomas McIlwraith Sir Thomas McIlwraith (17 May 1835 – 17 July 1900) was for many years the dominant figure of colonial politics in Queensland. He was Premier of Queensland from 1879 to 1883, again in 1888, and for a third time in 1893. In common with most po ...

decided on annexing the island on behalf of the Queensland Government, Chester was employed to proclaim the Queen's sovereignty, which he carried into effect on 4 April. Chester was a police magistrate at

Croydon, Queensland Croydon is a town and locality within the Shire of Croydon in Queensland, Australia. It is a terminus for the Normanton to Croydon railway line, which operates the Gulflander tourist train. At the , Croydon had a population of 258 people. Histo ...

from November 1887. Chester was transferred to

Cooktown Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repai ...

in 1891, to Clermont in 1898 and Gladstone in 1902. Chester died in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, Queensland, Australia, on 3 October 1914; he was survived by two of his three sons. Frank Jardine and Henry Chester (who was a temporary replacement magistrate at Somerset) conducted at least two large punitive expeditions on Muralag Island. In July 1869, Jardine led his native troopers and armed crewmen from the blackbirding vessel Melanie in a dawn raid on a village on the island killing many people

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chester, Henry Marjoribanks 1832 births 1914 deaths Military personnel from London English emigrants to Australia 19th-century Australian public servants