Robert Forsyth Macgeorge


Robert Forsyth Macgeorge was an early settler of South Australia who is remembered for founding the property which is now the Adelaide suburb of Urrbrae. A number of his children were prominent in the early history of South Australia and other Australian colonies.

History

Robert Forsyth Macgeorge, a tailor of Glasgow, and his wife Elizabeth M. Macgeorge, née Duncan and their family emigrated to South Australia aboard the Ariadne, arriving on 13 August 1839. They developed the property they named "Urr brae", now known as Urrbrae. R. F. Macgeorge took over Shepherd's draper's shop on Hindley Street. On what was intended as a visit to the "Old Country", he narrowly avoided being involved in the Admella disaster, then perished when the Royal Charter was wrecked.

Family

Their children included:
  • John MacGeorge died from tuberculosis
  • Robert Forsyth Macgeorge, Jnr married Emily Nichols on 27 December 1854, died in Dunedin, New Zealand.
  • Margaret Macgeorge married John Stewart Turner on 29 November 1843
  • Alexander Macgeorge JP took over father's shop, moved it to 40 King William Street, sold to partner George Doolette in 1875. He married Mary Hordern on 2 August 1851, had home Ballangeich in Mitcham; second marriage to Rachel Elizabeth Luxmoore on 31 January 1866. They left for Victoria around 1880, died in Malvern.
  • Alice Annie Macgeorge may have died before family left Britain, as Elizabeth Macgeorge has been designated "second daughter".
  • William Macgeorge died after falling from his pony.
  • Elizabeth "Eliza" Macgeorge married Francis Hardey Faulding on 16 September 1852. She married again, to Anthony Forster on 1 December 1869. They divorced six years later, citing her infidelity with one Stark.
  • James Macgeorge architect and businessman
  • David King Macgeorge died from caries of the thighbone
  • Farie Macgeorge married Catherine "Kate" Thomson in Coburg, Victoria on 10 April 1871. In Scotland early 1860s: promoted to First Lieutenant with City of Edinburgh Artillery Militia in May 1861. Appointed Surveyor 1865; defined boundary between SA and NSW 1867; with Victorian Geodetic Survey; turned to astronomy: observer at Great Melbourne Telescope 1870–1872 under Robert Ellery, succeeding Albert Le Sueur. Invented an improved clinometer used in diamond drilling, patented 1882. Lived St James Estate, Hawthorn, Victoria; took up with "spiritualist medium" Mrs. Maria Theresa Jackson; was beneficiary of disputed will of miner/pastoralist George Lamont; returned to Scotland c. 1882.
  • Ellison Barbara Christina "Ellen" Macgeorge married Richard Ernest Minchin on 16 August 1883.
Born in South Australia:
  • Mary Jane Macgeorge married John Wood Farrar on 31 May 1864.
  • Charlotte Isabel Macgeorge married Eustace Powhatan Sabine on 20 September 1865. He was a brother of Clement Sabine.
  • Catherine Turner Macgeorge married George Francis Wyatt on 20 September 1865.
  • William John Macgeorge was manager of the Bank of South Australia's Sydney office, also consul for Peru in NSW.