Richard Graves MacDonnell
Sir Richard Graves Macdonnell , C.B. (1814–1881) was a British colonial governor.
Macdonnell was born in Dublin 8 September 1814. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was a scholar 1833, and graduated B.A. in 1835, M.A. in 1836, LL.B. in 1845, and LL.D. in 1862. He was called to the Irish bar in 1838, and to the English bar, at Lincoln’s Inn on 25 January 1841. On 20 July 1843, he was appointed chief justice of the Gambia, and on 1 October 1847, governor of the British settlements on Gambia. While holding that post be conducted several exploring expeditions, opening up the interior of Africa from the Gambia to the Senegal. He also organized and accompanied some military expeditions, with success, against native tribes who had long oppressed the traders of the river. In 1852, he was nominated as lieutenant governor of St. Lucia, but without taking up the post he was sent on 10 January 1853 to become administrator and captain-general of the island of St. Vincent. From 8 June 1855 to 4 March 1862 he was governor of South Australia, where he aided in opening up the Murray river and in developing the resources of the colony. He was afterwards lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia from 28 May 1864 until October 1865, and governor of Hong Kong from 19 October 1865 until 1872, when he retired from the public service on a pension. He was gazetted C.B. 12 February 1852, was knighted by the queen at Buckingham Palace 28 January 1856, and was created K.C.M.G. on 23 February 1871.
He married Blanche Ann in 1847.
Macdonnell died at Hyères, France, 5 February 1881, and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery 14 February.
He contributed letters or papers to The Church of the Future, an address by the Rev. Thomas Binney in 1859, and to Christian Union, as discussed by the Bishop of Adelaide, Sir R. C. MacDonnell, &c., in 1859, and he published a lecture on ‘Australia,’ Dublin, 1864.
The MacDonnell Ranges in the south of the Northern Territory of Australia were named after him by explorer John McDouall Stuart in 1860. Port MacDonnell near Mount Gambier was also named after him. In Hong Kong, Macdonnell Road is named after him.
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| Preceded by: Charles Fitzgerald | Governor of Gambia 1847–1851 | Succeeded by: Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy |
| Preceded by: John Campbell | Governor of Saint Vincent 1853–1854 | Succeeded by: Edward John Eyre |
| Preceded by: SirHenry Fox Young | Governor of South Australia 1855–1862 | Succeeded by: SirDominick Daly |
| Preceded by: Charles Hastings Doyle | Governor of Nova Scotia 1864–1865 | Succeeded by: Sir William Fenwick Williams |
| Preceded by: Lord Hercules George Robert Robinson | Governor of Hong Kong 1866–1872 | Succeeded by: Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy |