27 Facts About Ralph Darling

General Sir Ralph Darling, GCH was a British Army officer who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831.

Ralph Darling is popularly described as a tyrant, accused of torturing prisoners and banning theatrical entertainment.

Ralph Darling seems to have been unique in the British Army of this period, as he progressed from an enlisted man to become a general officer with a knighthood.

Ralph Darling struggled to support his large family on a subaltern's pay.

Ralph Darling enlisted at the age of fourteen as a private in his father's regiment, and served in the ranks for at least two years on garrison duty in the West Indies.

General Ralph Darling was able to further the careers of his younger brothers Henry and William, and subsequently his nephew Charles; the three brothers all became generals, and Charles earned a knighthood.

Between February 1819 and February 1824, General Ralph Darling commanded the British troops on Mauritius, before serving as acting governor of the colony for the last three years of his stay.

Notwithstanding the criticism from some quarters, it was largely on account of his service in Mauritius that Ralph Darling was appointed the seventh Governor of New South Wales in 1824.

Ralph Darling initiated the construction, from 1826, of the convict-built Great North Road, linking the Hawkesbury settlements around Sydney with those in the Hunter Valley.

Ralph Darling proclaimed Van Diemen's Land as a separate colony on 3 December in 1825.

On 16 April 1831, Ralph Darling issued a proclamation banning trade in heads out of New Zealand saying that there was reason to believe that the trade tended to increase the sacrifice of human life.

Ralph Darling was a professional soldier, military governor of what was still effectively a penal colony under martial law, and having lived entirely within the authoritarian structure of the army since childhood, he lacked experience in dealing with civilian society.

Ralph Darling tended to rely upon like-minded military men for his administration, and it was subject to criticism for nepotism and favouritism.

Ralph Darling employed his nephew, Charles Henry Darling, as an assistant private secretary.

Ralph Darling called for representative government, the abolition of transportation, freedom of the press and trial by jury.

The Tory papers duly retaliated, but eventually Ralph Darling moved to resign.

Governor Ralph Darling is said to have "ruthlessly and implacably countered all attempts to establish a theatre in Sydney".

Ralph Darling even introduced a law effectively banning the performance of drama.

The law stated that no form of public entertainment could take place without approval from the colonial secretary, and Ralph Darling ensured that all such applications were rejected.

Ralph Darling did permit concerts of music to take place.

Ralph Darling sought to ensure the education of child prisoners, improve the treatment of female convicts, and promote the use of Christian teaching as a means of rehabilitation, and he made efforts to give the indigenous population the protection of British justice.

Ralph Darling left Australia in 1831, returning to England in 1832.

Ralph Darling was given the colonelcy of the 90th Regiment of Foot in 1823, transferring as Colonel to the 41st Regiment of Foot in 1837 and to the 69th Regiment of Foot in 1848, a post he held until his death.

Ralph Darling died in Brighton on 2 April 1858 at the age of eighty-six, survived by his widow, three sons and four daughters.

On 13 October 1817, Ralph Darling married the 19-year-old Elizabeth Dumaresq, known as Eliza.

Ralph Darling was the daughter of Colonel John Dumaresq, a landowner in Shropshire.

Ralph Darling was involved in the establishment of the Female School of Industry at Parramatta.