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James Morisset
Lieutenant Colonel James Thomas Morisset (1780 – 17 August 1852), penal administrator, was commandant of the second convict settlement at Norfolk Island, from 29 June 1829 to 1834.
Morisset was baptised on 21 August 1780 in the Church of St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, London, the son of James Morisset (1738–1815) and Jannetta Tadwell. His father, James Morisset, was a famous goldsmith of Huguenot descent. The name of James Morisset is inextricably associated with the finest examples of Applied Art in enamels and precious metals and stones to have been produced in England in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. James Morisset crafted presentation swords and snuff boxes, and many of his works remain today held by the Queen of the United Kingdom, in museums or in private collections.[citation needed]
In 1798 Morisset was commissioned into the 80th Regiment of Foot in 1798. He fought in Egypt against the French invasion of Egypt and Syria, receiving a gold medal for his service from the Sultan of Egypt in 1801. He was promoted Lieutenant in the same year.
In 1805, he bought a captaincy in the 48th Foot. He was wounded in 1811 in the Peninsular War, leaving his face badly disfigured.
In 1817 he arrived in New South Wales with his regiment. He was promoted Major in 1819.
In December 1818 he was appointed as commandant and magistrate at Newcastle. His public works were admired by Governor Macquarie. His attention to prisoners, and attempt to adapt punishments to individual convicts was also praised by Commissioner Bigge. He was regarded as a stern disciplinarian, with historian B.W. Champion reporting that "the cat-o'-nine-tails and the triangle … were in daily and almost hourly service".
Champion wrote that "Morisset was also an advocate of that gruelling mental and physical punishment, the treadmill—a system of punishment which eventually made the convict a burden on the community, instead of an active helper, by reason of the breakdown in mental and physical wellbeing which always accompanied long turns at the wheel." However, Vivienne Parsons responded in the Australian Dictionary of Biography that the wheel "was a normal form of punishment at the time and Morisset does not appear to have been considered unnecessarily harsh by his contemporaries." Champion noted that we have only hearsay evidence for his reputed harshness.
Morisset was the first settler to make an overland journey from Newcastle to Sydney. He completed this journey in nine days in April and May 1823. As a result of this expedition, the Surveyor-General Major Mitchell was ordered to survey a route, which he completed in 1829.
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James Morisset
Lieutenant Colonel James Thomas Morisset (1780 – 17 August 1852), penal administrator, was commandant of the second convict settlement at Norfolk Island, from 29 June 1829 to 1834.
Morisset was baptised on 21 August 1780 in the Church of St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, London, the son of James Morisset (1738–1815) and Jannetta Tadwell. His father, James Morisset, was a famous goldsmith of Huguenot descent. The name of James Morisset is inextricably associated with the finest examples of Applied Art in enamels and precious metals and stones to have been produced in England in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. James Morisset crafted presentation swords and snuff boxes, and many of his works remain today held by the Queen of the United Kingdom, in museums or in private collections.[citation needed]
In 1798 Morisset was commissioned into the 80th Regiment of Foot in 1798. He fought in Egypt against the French invasion of Egypt and Syria, receiving a gold medal for his service from the Sultan of Egypt in 1801. He was promoted Lieutenant in the same year.
In 1805, he bought a captaincy in the 48th Foot. He was wounded in 1811 in the Peninsular War, leaving his face badly disfigured.
In 1817 he arrived in New South Wales with his regiment. He was promoted Major in 1819.
In December 1818 he was appointed as commandant and magistrate at Newcastle. His public works were admired by Governor Macquarie. His attention to prisoners, and attempt to adapt punishments to individual convicts was also praised by Commissioner Bigge. He was regarded as a stern disciplinarian, with historian B.W. Champion reporting that "the cat-o'-nine-tails and the triangle … were in daily and almost hourly service".
Champion wrote that "Morisset was also an advocate of that gruelling mental and physical punishment, the treadmill—a system of punishment which eventually made the convict a burden on the community, instead of an active helper, by reason of the breakdown in mental and physical wellbeing which always accompanied long turns at the wheel." However, Vivienne Parsons responded in the Australian Dictionary of Biography that the wheel "was a normal form of punishment at the time and Morisset does not appear to have been considered unnecessarily harsh by his contemporaries." Champion noted that we have only hearsay evidence for his reputed harshness.
Morisset was the first settler to make an overland journey from Newcastle to Sydney. He completed this journey in nine days in April and May 1823. As a result of this expedition, the Surveyor-General Major Mitchell was ordered to survey a route, which he completed in 1829.