- Edward Eagar
Infobox Criminal
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date_of_birth = 1787
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date_of_death = 1866
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occupation = Lawyer, Merchant
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children =Edward Eagar (1787 – 1866) was a lawyer, merchant and criminal.
Eagar was born in
Killarney ,Ireland . His parents werelanded gentry so he was well educated. He trained as asolicitor and became anattorney to His Majesty's Courts in Ireland. In 1809 he was charged with forging a bill of exchange, and he was convicted and sentenced to death. He pleaded forclemency and was gaoled for 18 months until he was transported toSydney . The chaplain sought Eagar's repentance. Eagar committed his life to Christ, repented, and the chaplain sent with him toAustralia a letter to ReverendSamuel Marsden that said, "Edward Eagar has really become a new creature."Eagar arrived as a
convict in chains in 1811 and was assigned to teach children. He soon commenced Bible classes in the Windsor district. He was then given charge of the local school. In 1812 he met with two newcomers, Thomas Bowden and John Hoskin, and they formed the first membership of the firstMethodist church in Australia, known asWesley Mission , on12 March 1812 . Eagar wrote to the Methodist Conference in England to "send us a Minister lest we die in our sins". The Minister, ReverendSamuel Leigh , arrived in 1815, and Eagar introduced him toGovernor Macquarie . Reverend Leigh was the first Methodist minister in Australia, and he is remembered by the Leigh Memorial Church in Parramatta.Eagar assisted in founding the
Sydney Benevolent Society , and subsequently the Royal Women's Hospital at Paddington, theBritish and Foreign Bible Society , and the AustralianReligious Tract Society . He established the Society for the Protection and Civilisation of Distressed Islanders of the South Seas. He also planned the first mission to Aboriginal Australians. He also put up 10 per cent of the funding capital to establish theBank of New South Wales , now known asWestpac , but he was angry that he was not allowed to become a director of the bank because he had been a convict.In 1818 Eagar was granted a full pardon. However, Judge
Jeffrey Bent did not let him forget he had been a convict and had been discarded from practice as a lawyer. He lost a court case because pardoned convicts did not have a right to own property, to sue, to give evidence in court or to have other civil rights. Other emancipated convicts also saw their rights denied. So Eagar took up their case with theBritish Government . He fought for trial by jury and for freedom to trade commercially. This was the first Australian attempt to change government policy. DrWilliam Redfern , after whom the Sydney suburb of Redfern is named, and Edward Eagar sailed toLondon in 1821 to argue the case in theCourt of St James on behalf of other emancipated convicts. Eagar fought the case for 20 years, and eventually won.Eagar was Australia's first liberal political agitator. He left his wife and three sons behind, taking his daughter with him to London. He was never to return. But in London his personal life once more slipped below his Christian standards. He married a 16-year-old girl and they had 10 children. His Sydney wife, Jemima, moved into a new house in Macquarie Street, just down the road from Parliament House, with
William Wentworth , with whom she had a son. At the time Wentworth was arguably Australia's most famous citizen. He was the first 'European' to cross the Blue Mountains and the most powerful member of the Legislative Council. Eagar's son Geoffrey became the first accountant of the Bank of New South Wales, a leading public servant, a member of the Legislative Council and eventually Treasurer of New South Wales—described as the best Treasurer of the nineteenth century—and a long-serving Cabinet Minister. He never forgave his father for leaving his mother.References
Adapted from a speech given by Reverend the Honorable
Gordon Moyes MLC [http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20050407051 NSW Parliament Hansard]
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