People
The range and number of people mentioned in the journals and diaries of Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie are quite extensive. As a consequence, no attempt has been made in this project to give full historical notes on persons if biographical information is available in standard works of reference such as: Australian Dictionary of Biography, or the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Note: in 2006 the Australian Dictionary of Biography was made available as a searchable full-text Internet resource:
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
However, in many instances, these works have proved to be incomplete in clarifying the context of some of the references made in the Macquarie journals, or have become dated in their research findings. Similarly, while the 'Notes' section of L. Macquarie Journals of his Tours in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, 1810 -1822 [Sydney, 1956], remains an invaluable source of information, many of its details have been superceded by more recent scholarship.
In the light of these factors, and because many named individuals in the Macquarie journals have received little or no biographical entries in standard reference works, this project has created its own People section - adding information from a wide variety of sources, including research found in more recent publications.You will find these works listed in the Bibliography. Entries in People are arranged alphabetically as follows:
Where more detailed information is required a separate series of biographical entries has also been created entitled :Military and Naval Ranks
Lachlan Macquarie spent most of his adult life involved in some form of military service. He joined the army in 1776 at the age of 15, and was serving in North America a year later. The whole character and fabric of his life was centred upon the pursuit of advancement through the military ranks. At the time of his retirement in 1822 he had reached the rank of Major-General.
All his training and expectations were conditioned by his understanding of the role of patronage in military promotion and the opportunities offered for financial initiative while performing the duties of a soldier of the Crown. In his journals there are frequent references to the military and naval ranks of numerous people with whom he had official dealings and personal contact; the following list is designed to provide a comparative table of the relative ranks of serving commissioned officers in the British Army and the Royal Navy.
| Comparative List | ||
| British Army | Royal Navy | |
| Field Marshal | Admiral of the Fleet | |
| General | Admiral | |
| Lieutenant-General | Vice Admiral | |
| Major-General | Rear Admiral | |
| Brigadier | Commodore | |
| Colonel | Captain | |
| Lieutenant-Colonel | Commander | |
| Major | Lieutenant Commander | |
| Captain | Lieutenant | |
| Lieutenant | Sub-Lieutenant | |
| Second Lieutenant | Midshipman | |
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