BRISBANE, Sir THOMAS MAKDOUGALL ( 1773 1860). A British general and astronomer. Ile was born at Brisbane, the hereditary seat of his family, near Largs, Ayrshire, July 23, 1773. At the age of 16 he entered the army as an ensign, and in the following year, when quartered in Ireland, became intimate with Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington. With a company that he raised in Glasgow in 1793, Brisbane took part in all the engagements of the campaign in Flanders. Sent to the 'West Indies in 1796, he distinguished himself under Sir Ralph Abercrom by, and in 1812. under the Duke of Wellington, iu Spain. Appointed Governor of New South Wales, in 1821, he introduced many reforms, especially in penal treatment, promoted horse breeding, the cultivation of sugarcane, wine, tobacco, and cotton, and at the close of his ad ministration, in 1825, left 50,000 acres of cleared land where he had found only 25,000. The town of Brisbane was named after him, as also the river on which it stands, which was discovered under his auspices. High as Brisbane ranks as
a soldier and administrator, as a man of science he holds a still higher place. While in Australia, he catalogued no less than 7385 stars, for which great work, known as the Brisbane Catalogue of stars, he received the Copley Medal from the Royal Society. On his return to Scotland, he had an astronomical observatory established at his residende at Makerstoun, and devoted him self entirely to scientific pursuits. He entered warmly into the plans of the British Association for ascertaining the laws of the earth's magnet ism, and in 1841 had a magnetic observatory erected at Makerstoun, the observations made there filling three large volumes. He was made a baronet in 1836, G.C.B. the following year ; received from Oxford the degree of D.C.L., and succeeded Sir Walter Scott as president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He died at Largs, January 27, 1860.