Biography

He was born on 21^st June 1784, fourth son of John Arthur of Plymouth, Devon, England, and Catherine his wife, daughter of Thomas Cornish of Portsmouth. Hampshire, England. They married 3^rd March 1767. The family was originally from Cornwall, and moved to Devon early in the eighteenth century.

Arthur joined the army in 1804 as ensign in the 91^st Regiment. He rose steadily through the ranks and is said to have seen service in the Napoleonic Wars.

In May 1814, he married Eliza Ord Ussher, second daughter of Lieutenant General Sir John Frederick Sigismund Smith K.C.B. They had several children, George, Frederick, Charles, Edward born 1825, Sigismund 1828, John 1830, and Leonard 1832. These last four were born in Van Diemen's Land. The daughters were Isabella, Catherine, Eliza, Frances and Georgina.

George Arthur became a colonel of the York Chasseurs, and was appointed Superintendent of Honduras in 1814. In 1822, he was commissioned Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land. He arrived on 12^th May 1824 on board the 'Adrian'.

The colonists knew him as a man of medium size, tubby, but erect and brisk. For special occasions, he wore a scarlet uniform, but usually his usual attire was a black frock coat, black trousers with a red seam down the outside leg, black belt with sword in gleaming sheath, and black beaver hat. He had dark red hair, receding, with mutton-chop whiskers.

George Arthur was in Van Diemen's Land for twelve years, and in that time the colony progressed greatly, especially in the North. Arthur re-organised the administration of the North and appointed a civil commandant in Launceston to replace the military officers who had been in charge from the earliest days of settlement. He also appointed civil officials in charge of the gaols in George Town and Launceston.

One of his early duties in his first year of office was to lay the foundation stone of St. John's Church, Launceston, on 28^th December 1824. Also at that time he subscribed to a fund, opened by the Reverend John Youl to purchase an organ for the church.

In his years in the colony, George Arthur supported many benevolent interests, including the Temperance Society, Bible Society, the Wesleyan Missions, schools, Orphans' Societies, Missions to Seamen, the Benevolent Society and the Mechanics' Institutes.

Governor Arthur's standards of governing were tough but fair, although very hard on the convicts, and a certain amount of unrest developed among the free settlers.

Colonel Arthur returned to England in 1836. There he was created a Knight of Hanover in December, and was then appointed Governor of Upper Canada. His term of office lasted for five years, and in December 1841, he returned to England. There he was created a baronet.

From 1842 to 1846, Sir George Arthur was Governor of Bombay, and in 1847 he was appointed to the Privy Council. The following year, Sir George was made an Honorary Doctor of Civil Law at Oxford University. In 1853, he became a colonel of the Queen's Own Regiment and was gazetted lieutenant General in 1854. He died on 19^th September 1854.

In Launceston in 1910, Mr Walter Perrin and the Reverend J. S. Bryers of St. John's gave four stained-glass windows for the choir vestry of that church. Each displays the heraldic arms of persons whose lives have touched St. John's. Sir George Arthur was the original Grantee of these arms. The blazon reads:
Arms:
Or, on a chev, Az., between two clarions in chief, Gu., and a kangaroo Serg., in base Ppr., and two swords the points upwards also Ppr., points and hilts of the first, on a chief of the third a horse courant, Ar.
Crest:
In front of two swords in saltier Ppr., pommels and hilts Or., a pelican in her piety Sa., the nest gold.
Motto:
'Stet Fortuna Domus.'  (‘let the fortune of the house stand’)

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