Bingle John (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. First Edition. London, Henry Stocking, 1837. Octavo, iv, 192 pages. Original dark green cloth decorated in blind and lettered in gilt on the front cover ('A Letter to Lord Glenelg'), later rebacked in green binder's cloth lettered in gilt; cloth a little flecked and lightly worn at the corners; minimal foxing to a few early and late leaves; a few small contemporary annotations in the text (almost certainly in the author's hand); a very good copy. The head of the title page is inscribed 'with Mr Bingle's Compts'. John Bingle (1796-1882) sailor, merchant and landholder, arrived at Port Jackson as a settler in December 1821. He eventually 'acquired 1800 acres (728 ha) of land at Dart Brook, in the Upper Hunter district, which he named Puen Buen and on which he settled. For almost twenty years he played a prominent part in the development of the district, serving on the bench of magistrates, subscribing generously to church and hospital funds, and waging vigorous and successful war on bushrangers. The first court-house in the Scone district was built by Bingle in 1832, after he had been severely censured by Governor (Sir) Richard Bourke for holding, in his own home, courts at which his assigned servants were tried by a visiting magistrate. Believing the governor's censure unjust he published his defence in "A Letter to the . Secretary of State for the Colonies", printed by Stephens and Stokes in Sydney in 1832. This evoked further adverse comment from Bourke, who believed him to be the tool of his more powerful friends. Openly associating himself with the faction which opposed Bourke, Bingle gave such provocation that he was removed from the magistracy in 1836, as were others whose conduct as magistrates was considered "unbecoming". Next year he agreed to carry to the British government a petition demanding Bourke's recall, but shortly before his proposed departure he was arrested on a charge of cattle-stealing. The charge, which created great public interest, was dismissed, but the newspapers regarded his arrest as a political manoeuvre designed to discredit him before he reached London. After his acquittal Bingle joined his wife and family in England where, in 1837, he published "A Letter to . Lord Glenelg", setting out the charges against him and the evidence in his defence' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'). Ferguson 2233. Signed.