Author: KENTISH, Nathaniel Lipscomb
Biography:
KENTISH, Nathaniel Lipscomb (1797-1867: ADB)
Baptized at St Maurice, Winchester, on 7 May 1797, he was one of the three children of naval surgeon Nathaniel Kentish (d 1807) and his wife, Elizabeth Lipscomb. He trained as an engineer in surveying and drawing at the Royal Military College (1827), and was, briefly, a professor there. At St Lawrence, Winchester, on 7 Feb. 1826 he married Anna-Maria Judd (1798-1882), daughter of Thomas Judd of Winterslow and his wife, Elizabeth. There were three children by the marriage. Invited to take up a government surveying appointment in New South Wales, he and his family arrived there in 1830. He gave notable service to Australia by surveying the north-west of Van Diemen’s land; by his “discovery” of the Kentish Plains; and by surveying the road from Deloraine to Emu Bay. His newspaper, the Sydney Times (1834-38), was pro-emancipationist and anti-capital punishment. In addition to pamphlets in which he acerbically attacked government and intemperately defended his own conduct, he authored several works, The Present State of New South Wales (1835); Essay on Capital Punishment (1842); An Essay on Christian Fortitude (1835). The Bush in South Australia (1836); The Political Economy of New South Wales (1838), Work in the Bush, Thoughts in the Bush, and Life in the Bush, of Van Diemen's Land (1846); and The Question of Questions (1855). He died on 11 Oct. 1867 at Ashfield, New South Wales. (ADB 29 Sep. 2023; ancestry.com 2 Oct. 2023; Dictionary of Australian Artists Online 2 Oct. 2023; J. A. Ferguson, Bibliography of Australia [1965], 6:311-13) JC
Other Names:
- N. Lipscomb Kentish