Kenneth Snodgrass

Kenneth Snodgrass CB (1784 – 14 October 1853) was a Scottish-born soldier and colonial administrator. He acted as lieutenant-governor of Van Diemen's Land and governor of New South Wales for brief periods.

Kenneth Snodgrass
Kenneth Snodgrass
Born1784 (1784)
Paisley, Scotland
Died14 October 1853 (1853-10-15) (aged 69)
Raymond Terrace, Colony of New South Wales
Allegiance United Kingdom
 Kingdom of Portugal (1809-1814)
RankLieutenant-Colonel
Battles/warsPeninsular War
Awards Companion of Order of the Bath

Early life

Snodgrass was born in Paisley, Scotland, the son of the Reverend Dr John Snodgrass, M.A., DD (1744–97), a Presbyterian minister, author and pamphleteer; and Janet, née Mackenzie (1762-1852). His brother was John James Snodgrass. Kenneth Snodgrass enlisted in the armed forces in 1802 as an ensign and was promoted to lieutenant in 1804. He served in Sicily and Sweden, was promoted captain in 1808, and fought in the Peninsular War with the Portuguese army from 1809 to 1814. Promoted major, he commanded a corps of 400 grenadiers at the battle of Vitoria. He was wounded at the Battle of Orthes in 1814, appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1815, and promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1817. Snodgrass had married Janet Wright in 1814; they had six children.

Colony of New South Wales

In December 1828 he arrived in Sydney, New South Wales with his wife and children, where on 1 January 1829 he was appointed commandant of the recently created mounted police.[1] On 19 November 1833 he was appointed a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, and remained a member until 6 December 1838.[2]

Acting lieutenant governor

He served as acting Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) from October 1836 to January 1837, between the terms of George Arthur and Sir John Franklin.[2]

Acting governor

He was Acting Governor of New South Wales for two months from late 1837 to early 1838,[3] between the departure of Richard Bourke and the arrival of George Gipps. While in this role Snodgrass despatched a Sydney mounted police detachment to pursue the Namoi, Weraerai and Kamilaroi people who had killed five stockmen in separate incidents on recently established pastoral runs in the upper Gwydir River area of New South Wales.[4] Tragically this led to the events in January 1838 which became known as the Waterloo Creek massacre (or the Australia Day Massacre). On 26 January 1838, a New South Wales Mounted Police detachment led by Major James Nunn murdered perhaps 40 to 50 men, women and children. (Some historians claim up to 300 people were killed).[5] The group attacked an encampment of Kamilaroi people at a place that came to be called Waterloo Creek, in remote north west New South Wales.[6][7][8][9]

Later life

Snodgrass served again in the Legislative Council from 1848 to 1850, having been elected as the member for the Counties of Gloucester, Macquarie and Stanley.[2]

His daughter Mary married New South Wales politician Archibald Jacob, and his son Peter became a pastoralist and politician in Victoria. Snodgrass died at Raymond Terrace, New South Wales, in 1853.[2]

gollark: ... it's enough to make a few trains?
gollark: Don't know, no.
gollark: The quarry got it.
gollark: Or smeltery it.
gollark: It's poor zinc ore. You can only smelt it.

References
  1. Lea-Scarlett, E J. "Snodgrass, Kenneth (1784–1853)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 21 February 2019 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  2. "Lieutenant-Colonel Kenneth Snodgrass, CB (1784 - 1853)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  3. "Former Lieutenant-Governors". NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  4. Ryan, L. (2003), "Waterloo Creek, northern New South Wales, 1838", in Attwood, Bain; Foster, S.G. (eds.), Frontier Conflict : The Australian Experience, Frontier Conflict : The Australian Experience, Canberra: National Museum of Australia, pp. 33–43, ISBN 1876944110
  5. R. Milliss, Waterloo Creek: the Australia Day massacre of 1838, George Gipps and the British conquest of New South Wales, University of New South Wales Press, 1994 p.2
  6. "Australian Broadcasting Corporation Frontier Education history website". Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  7. Jeffrey Grey, A military history of Australia, Cambridge University Press, 2008 p.35.
  8. Robert Manne, In denial: the stolen generations and the right, Black Inc., 2001 p.95
  9. Chris Clark, The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles,Allen & Unwin, 2010p.13
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