for the New Zealand politician see Thomas Davey (New Zealand)

Thomas Davey (New Zealand)

Thomas Henry Davey was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for the electorates of City of Christchurch and Christchurch East.-Early life:Davey was born in Liskeard in south east Cornwall, England. He learned the trade of printing....

Thomas Davey (c. 1758 – 2 May 1823) was the second Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemens Land.

Early life

Few details are known of his early life, but Thomas Davey was serving in the army or navy in 1777, and went to Australia as a lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

 with the First Fleet

First Fleet

The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...

 10 years later. He left Sydney at the end of 1792, at the time of the mutiny at the Nore was a captain of marines, and fought at the Battle of Trafalgar

Battle of Trafalgar

The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....

 in 1805. In September 1811 (he was then a major of marines), through the influence of Lord Harrowby, he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Tasmania (notwithstanding the fact that he was, at the time, languishing in a Gentleman's Prison for Debtors), and so did not sail until June 1812. It is said that he left England without informing his wife, but she got wind of his departure and, rushing, managed to get aboard. Upon being informed of her arrival Davey lost his temper and hurled his wig at the wall. In the interim he had been made a colonel. He arrived in Sydney on 25 October 1812 and reported to Governor Lachlan Macquarie

Lachlan Macquarie

Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...

, whose orders he had been instructed to observe. He remained in Sydney for nearly four months, and did not land at Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

 until 20 February 1813. All his possessions were lost en route and Davey put in a claim of substantial length.

Van Diemen's Land

Davey appears to have had no qualifications for his position. He was indolent and without sense of dignity, and indulged fully in the hard-drinking that was a characteristic of the period. He is still remembered for his invention of the cocktail "Blow my Skull", the recipe for which is found in Edward Abbot's colonial cookbook.

Macquarie had received a private letter from the authorities warning him to keep a close watch on Davey, and on 30 April 1814 reported that his conduct was pretty correct, "except for making locations of land to persons not entitled", he had every reason to believe that he "is honest and means well" but that his character made him a "very unfit man for so important a station". Nearly a year later Macquarie again reported very adversely, and in April 1816 Earl Bathurst

Earl Bathurst

Earl Bathurst, of Bathurst in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1772 for Allen Bathurst, 1st Baron Bathurst. He was a politician and an opponent of Sir Robert Walpole...

 in a dispatch to Macquarie recalled Davey, but suggested that he should be allowed to resign, and that a grant of land should be made to him.

Davey was confronted by one of the largest, most daring and successful bushranging

Bushranger

Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...

 gangs of Australian history, that of Michael Howe. Davey was checked and humiliated time and time again by Howe's exploits. Signing himself as "The Governor of the Rangers" in letters to Davey, Howe threatened to set the colony on fire from end to end and Davey feared that there would be a general uprising of the convicts.

Davey handed over his position to Governor William Sorell

William Sorell

William Sorell was a soldier and third Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land.-Early life:Sorell was born probably in the West Indies, the eldest son of Lieutenant-general William Alexander Sorell and his wife Jane...

 on 9 April 1817. Considerable grants of land were made to him, but he was not successful with them and he sailed to England from Sydney in August 1821. He died on 2 May 1823 and was survived by his wife and daughter, both much respected, who remained in Tasmania. Though quite unfitted for his position the accounts of Davey that give him no redeeming qualities go too far. He was of a weakly, amiable nature, but much progress was made during his administration, the most important act being that Hobart was made a free port

Free port

A free port or free zone , sometimes also called a bonded area is a port, port area or other area with relaxed jurisdiction with respect to the country of location...

. He encouraged the proper treatment of aborigines, and his bringing in of martial law

Martial law

Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...

 in an attempt to check bushranging

Bushranger

Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...

 at least showed he could act firmly on an occasion. The wisdom of this action has been questioned, but it certainly had the approval of the colonists. It should be remembered also that Davey's powers were very limited, and that he was unfortunate in his subordinate officials; some of them had little ability and at least two were men of bad character, serving in Howe's gang.

Further reading

• Robson, L. L. (1983). A History of Tasmania. Volume I. Van Diemen's Land From the Earliest Times to 1855. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-554364-5.