Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/550

 Newton, Caithness, N.B., and was born in 1817, the year in which the Bank of New South Wales was founded. At the age of seventeen he emigrated to Sydney, N.S.W., where he engaged with great success in squatting and mercantile pursuits. In 1845 he married Jane Elizabeth, daughter of William Walker, a prominent Sydney merchant. In the following year he became a director of the Bank of New South Wales, and was chosen president in 1852. On the discovery of gold in Australia in 1851, Mr. Larnach, in conjunction with his colleagues, entered largely into the purchase of the precious metal on account of the Bank, and in 1852 doubled the capital out of profits. In the latter year he returned to England and became manager of the London branch, in the founding of which he was the active spirit. He retained his connection with the management of the Bank of New South Wales for twenty-five years, and on his retirement was elected Chairman of the London Board of the Bank. In 1858 he became a director of the London Joint Stock Bank, and is also on the board of the Indemnity Mutual Marine Insurance Company. Whilst the Bank of New South Wales held the agency of that colony, its monetary affairs were conducted with great success by Mr. Larnach, who is regarded as one of the leading financial authorities in the city of London.

Legge, Col. William Vincent (p. 273), is the only son of Robert Vincent Legge and Elizabeth Graves his wife, daughter of Captain John de Lapenotiere, R.N. He was born on Sept. 2nd, 1841, and married on Dec. 1st, 1867, Frances Anne Talbot, only daughter of Major W. Gray, of the 94th Regiment, and widow of Alick Thompson.

Lewis, Hon. Neil Elliott, M.H.A., M.A., B.C.L., Attorney-General of Tasmania, is the eldest son of Neil Lewis, of Hobart, and was born on Oct. 27th, 1858. He was educated at the High School, Hobart, and took the degree of Associate in Arts under the Council of Education in 1875. Two years later he won the Tasmanian scholarship, and proceeded to Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1882, M.A. in 1885, and B.C.L. in 1885. Mr. Lewis entered at the Inner Temple in Oct. 1879, and was called to the English Bar in June 1883. Returning to Tasmania, he was admitted a barrister of the Supreme Court of that colony in Dec. 1885. Mr. Lewis, who is a member of the Council of the University of Tasmania and a lieutenant in the Tasmanian Defence Force, was elected to the House of Assembly for Richmond in July 1886. In August 1892, when the Ministry was formed, he accepted office as Attorney-General.

Loftus, Augustus Pelham Brooke, son of Lord (q.v.) was born on July 6th, 1851. He was aide-de-camp to his father whilst Governor of New South Wales from 1879 to 1885, and in the following year was secretary to the Royal Commission of that colony for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition at South Kensington, acting as the chief administrative functionary of the New South Wales Court during the progress of the Exhibition. Mr. Loftus married in 1887 Ethel Adelaide, daughter of P. P. Labertouche, of Melbourne, for many years Secretary for Railways in Victoria.

Loftus, The Right Hon. Lord Augustus William Frederick Spencer, G.C.B., P.C., is the fourth son of the second Marquis of Ely and Anna Maria his wife, daughter of Sir H. W. Dashwood, Bart. He was born on Oct. 4th, 1817, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of M.A. Entering the diplomatic service, he was appointed attaché at Berlin in 1837 and paid attaché at Stuttgart in 1844. He accompanied Sir Stratford Canning (afterwards Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe) on his special mission to the Courts of Berlin, Vienna, Munich, and Athens in March 1848. He was appointed Secretary of the Legation at Stuttgart in 1852 and in Berlin in 1853, and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Vienna in March 1858. In August of the same year he was sent to represent the Queen at the marriage of his Serene Highness Prince Leiningen with the Princess Mary of Baden at Carlsruhe. In Dec 1860 Lord Augustus was transferred to Berlin. On the elevation of the mission in Berlin to the rank of an embassy he was removed, on Oct. 28th, 1862, to Munich, which was on that occasion raised to the rank of a first-class mission. He was created K.C.B. on Dec. 12th, 1862, was promoted to be Ambassador Extraordinary and  534