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John Augustus McCarthy (1811–1898)

Augustus John Skottowe was born on 28 August 1811 and baptised (as Scottowe) on 28 September 1811 at St Philips Church, Sydney.

He accompanied his father, and the remnants of the 73rd Regiment, on the ship Kangaroo, which departed Sydney 18 April 1815, for Ceylon. It is said that John, with the aid of some of his father's soldiers, stowed away aboard his father's ship. He returned to England with his father in about December 1817. After his father's death on about 18 November 1820, John was sent to a boarding school for three years, Bowes Academy at Greta Bridge, in Yorkshire. He later worked as a clerk at his great uncle, Nicholas Skottowe's, bank in Dublin.

After the widespread failure of private banks, Nicholas retired to France, John adopted his mothers surname, McCarthy. He was sent to Perth County, Ontario, Canada by the Canada Company to assist the first settlers during a cholera epidemic and decided to settle there himself. He married Pauline Izard in 1838 and was the first Chief of Police of Stratford, Ontario, from 1872 to 1876.

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Citation details

'McCarthy, John Augustus (1811–1898)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/mccarthy-john-augustus-30236/text37517, accessed 8 September 2024.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Life Summary [details]

Alternative Names
  • Skottowe, Augustus John
  • Scottowe, Augustus John
Birth

28 August, 1811
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Death

8 October, 1898 (aged 87)
Ontario, California, United States of America

Cultural Heritage

Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.

Religious Influence

Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included.