John Macarthur (1767 - 1834), by unknown artist, courtesy of State Library of New South Wales. GPO 1 - 06190. .Image Details

MACARTHUR, JOHN (1767?-1834), soldier, entrepreneur and pastoralist, was baptized on 3 September 1767 at Stoke Damerel, near Plymouth, England, one of three known children of two expatriate Scots, Alexander Macarthur (formerly of Argyllshire) and his wife Catherine (d.1777), who lived in the parish of St Andrew in Devonport. Alexander Macarthur was a mercer and draper in Plymouth, whose business was inherited by his eldest son, James. It was this background that later gave John Macarthur's enemies in New South Wales the excuse to lampoon him as 'Jack Boddice', a staymaker's apprentice. However, by 1782 enough influence had been secured to obtain an ensign's commission in Fish's Corps for the 15-year-old John. This corps, specially intended for the American war, was still being assembled in ...

Read more at the source website

Source:

Australian Dictionary of Biography