GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL ORDERS.

Head Quarters, Sydney,
Friday 1st January, 1819.

HIS EXCELLENCY the GOVERNOR and COMMANDER of the FORCES has been pleased to appoint Lieutenant HECTOR MACQUARIE, of the 48th Regiment, to be his Aide-de-Camp, in the Room of Lieutenant JOHN WATTS, of the 46th Regiment, who resigns that Appointment from the 24th of last Month. – Lieutenant MACQUARIE will accordingly draw his Pay and Allowances as Aide-de-Camp on and from the 25th of the last Month of December inclusive.

The COMMANDER of the FORCES has been pleased to grant Lieutenant JOHN WATTS, of the 46th Regiment, Permission to return to England, by the first convenient Opportunity, for the Settlement of his private Affairs, with Leave to be absent from his Corps and Duty for two Years from the Date of his Embarkation at Port Jackson.

In accepting the Resignation of Lieutenant Watts, of the Appointment which he has filled since the beginning of June 1814, in a Manner most honorable to himself, and highly satisfactory to the COMMANDER of the FORCES, combining the utmost Correctness of military official Duty with every kind and grateful Interest of Family Regard and private Friendship, His EXCELLENCY desires thus publicly to assure Lieutenant Watts of the high Sense he entertains of his Merits and Worth, as an Officer and a Gentleman and that it will be a Duty – particularly gratifying to him to take the earliest Occasion of recommending him to His Royal Highness the Commanders Chief for that Promotion to which his long tried and approved Public Services give him so pre-eminent a Claim.

His EXCELLENCY desires also to return Lieutenant Watts his best Thanks for the important extra Services, gratuitously and voluntarily rendered to the Colony at large, in the Exercise of his architectural Skill & superior Taste, so ably manifested in that very elegant and capacious Building, the General Hospital at Parramatta; in the new Barracks and Quarters for Officers at that Place; in the Additions and Improvements of the Government House and Offices there; and in a Variety of other useful Works which are now in Progress; particularly, the Construction of a Rampart across the Parramatta River, whereby the Inhabitants will derive the Benefit of the fresh Water in a large Reservoir, secure from the Salt Water of the Tides; and also in erecting a Tower and Steeple to the Church of St. John's, at Parramatta: – Services in which HIS EXCELLENCY sincerely regrets that Lieutenant Watts met with a serious accident, whilst directing the Repairs and Improvements of the Turnpike Road and Bridges from Sydney to Parramatta; and which, from the long protracted Confinement occasioned by that Injury, prevented him from conducting to the present Period.

When Lieutenant Watts shall finally depart for Europe, his Separation from Major General MACQUARIE'S Family will be a Circumstance sincerely regretted by every Branch of it, whilst his future Welfare and Advancement in Life will be ever an anxious and interesting Object in His Excellency's Consideration.

By Command of His Excellency

The Commander of the Forces,

H. C. ANTILL, Major of Brigade

Notes:
Lieut. John Cliffe Watts (1786-1783) departed for England on 1 April 1819 on board the transport Shipley. In 1823 he married Jane Campbell (1792-1873), daughter of Margaret Campbell, the elder sister of Elizabeth Macquarie.
Full biographical details are available at Profile: WATTS, John Cliffe

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Provenance
Sydney Gazette 2 January 1819 p.1a.

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