BRISBANE, Six Thomas MacDougall, Scottish general and astronomer: b. Brisbane, near Largs, the seat of his family, 23 July 1773 d. there, 27 Jan. 1860. He entered the army and in 1793 took part in all the engagements of the campaign in Flanders. In 1796 he was sent to the West Indies, and in 1812 commanded a brigade under the Duke of Wellington in Spain. He took part in the battles of Vittoria, Orthes and Toulouse, and received the thanks of Parliament for conspicuous bravery at the battle of the Nive. On the abdication of Napoleon he was sent to America. In 1821 he was appointed governor of New South Wales, which post he continued to occupy for four years. His admin was active and intelligent, and tended greatly to promote the prosperity of the colony. He introduced at his own expense a good breed of horses, and promoted the cultivation of the vine, as well as of sugar, cotton and tobacco. At the same time he devoted himself with great diligence to the study of astronomy. He had an observatory erected at his residence of Para matta, and catalogued 7,385 stars, until then scarcely known to astronomers. For this great
work, known as the 'Brisbane Catalogue of Stars,' he received the Copley medal. of the Royal Society. Immigration began at this period but he unwisely gave so much power to the immigrants that general confusion resulted and he was recalled at the end of 1825. On his return to Scotland he devoted himself en tirely to science. He had an astronomical, and later a magnetic, observatory established at his residence at Makerstoun. The observations which he made there, with the aid of able assistants, fill three large volumes. He was made a baronet in 1836, G.C.B. in the follow ing year; received from Oxford the degree of D.C.L. and succeeded Sir Walter Scott as president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He founded two gold medals for scientific merit, one in the gift of the Royal Society, the other in that of the Society of Arts.