The lord who gives his name to Hobart

Many know little about the origins of the name — or the man, says Peter D. Jones

TALKING to friends about dual naming and the use of nipaluna or not, I was surprised by how many people had no idea why our city is called Hobart.

Lieutenant Governor David Collins had been sent from Sydney to Van Diemens Land to start the new colony and, finding Risdon Cove unsuitable, he moved the across the river to Sullivans Cove in February, 1804 (naming it after John Sullivan, Permanent Under Secretary to the Colonies in London).

Here the Hobart Rivulet provided fresh water all the year round, unlike Risdon Cove.

In June the same year, he announced that the name of the new settlement would be Hobart Town or Hobarton.

Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire, was an ex-soldier who had taken part in the war against the American colonies (177683) and then after the British were defeated, got sent to become aide-de-camp to a number of lord lieutenants of Ireland.

He became a Tory MP in the Irish House of Commons (1784) and later in the British House of Commons as well (1788), which you could do in those days because Ireland had a separate Parliament until the Act of Union in 1801.

As a staunch Tory, he stood firm against any concession to Irish Catholics who were still not allowed to vote.

He took his seat at a turbulent time in British politics when William Pitt the Younger was Prime Minister for 17 years (1783-1801), George III’s health was causing concern and war with revolutionary France had begun in 1793.

In that same year, Lord Hobart was appointed Governor of the Madras Presidency, which covered much of South India.

In addition, he inherited his title, Baron Hobart, from his uncle, enabling him to enter the House of Lords after his return to England.

He first married Margaretta (1792), daughter of another politician, Edmund Bourke, and they had two children, but the baby son and mother died in India.

They were buried in St Mary’s Church in Fort St George where the British were based in Madras (now Chennai).

I saw their memorial tablet in the church while visiting the fort some years ago and saw Lord Hobart’s portrait on display in an adjacent hall, in the company of other former governors.

After a disagreement with the Governor-General and the death of his wife and son, he was recalled to England by the President of the Board of Control responsible for Indian Affairs in 1798 and took his seat in the House of Lords.

He remarried a year later and was appointed the first Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1801 to May 1804 before becoming Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

After his father died, he took the title of Earl of Buckinghamshire in 1804, which explains why the southern half of Van Diemens Land was initially called Buckinghamshire.

Colonel William Paterson named the northern half Cornwall, the birthplace of Governor King.

Aged only 56, Lord Hobart died in 1816 after falling from his horse — while Hobart Town became just Hobart in 1881.