Page:A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry Vol 2.djvu/202

 582 BURKK'S COLONIAL GEXTIJY. (lprc;n rpHE RIGHT HON. SIR GEORGE GREY, P.O., K.C.B., D.C.L., LLC, I M.L.R. of Auckland, New Zealatid, b. at Lisbon, lltli April, 1812 ; m. at King George's Sonnd, Western Australia, 2nd Nnvember, 1839, Eliza Luey {!>. 1822), daughter of Admiral Sir Robert Si'ENCEE, R.N., K.C^.H., sometime gov'ernment resident at Albany, Western Australia. Sir George Grey was born at Lisbon during the Peninsular -war, in which his father played a distinguislied part, and was educated at the Royal Military College. He was gazetted Ensign in the 83rd Regiment in 1829, from which he retired as captain in 18.39. He is the eldest surviving officer of that regiment. Ho was employed with Lieutenant Lushington in 1837 to explore the country to the north-west of Australia, and landed at Port Geoi-ge 2nd December, 1837, and underwent many perilous adventures in this expedition, which he described in that most interesting work, The Journals of Discovery, published in 1841. He was sometime resident magistrate at Albany, We-tern Australia, and in December, 1840, he was appointed Governor of South Australia in succession to Lieutenant- Colonel George Gawler, K.H., at a time of severe financial crisis. During his residence at Adelaide the Buri-a and Kapunda mines were discovered, and the colony became self-supporting. Owing to his success in that colony. Captain Grey was appointed I8th November, 1845, Governor of New Zealand, at a most difficult period, when the war was raging. This he succeeded in quelling. He issued " the ordinance to provide for the establish- ment of Provincial Legislative Councils" on 29th November, 1848, to which the royal assent was given 22nd December, 1849, and which led to much dissatisfaction and agitation among certain sections in the colony. In May, 1852, six provinces, viz, Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Canter- bury, Otago, and New Plymouth, were created by Act of Parliament, and Sir Georcje proclaimed the new constitution 17th January, 1853, and defined the boundaries of the provinces. In January, 1854, he was appointed Governor of Cape Colony, where he prevented a rising of the Kaffirs by his diplomatic skill. On the breaking out of the mutiny in India, Lord Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay, asked for assistance, and Sir George Grey promptly and on his own responsibility sent troops from the Cape with cavalry and artillery fully horsed, and £60,000 in specie, which enabled Lord Elphinstone to hold the mutineers in check in Bombay, and Sir Colin Campbell to go to the relief of Lucknow on 17th November, 1857. Sir George was once more specially chosen, on account of his intimate know- ledo-e of the people and the country, for the Governorship of New Zealand, to which he was reappointed in May, 18G1, in order to cope with the native troubles that had arisen in the colony. The Maori war had then commenced, and was eventually quelled, and Sir George left the colony in a state of tranquillity and returning prosperity. There had been considerable. friction however, between the governor and the general officer commanding the troops, and Sir George was recilled 27 th August, 1867, to the unanimous disapproval of the colonists, and amid widespread expressions of lesprct