MACARTNEY, GEORGE
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George Macartney (May 14, 1737-May 5, 1806) was the first British governor of the Cape Colony. He served from 1797 to 1798, shortly after the Dutch East India Company had surrendered the Cape to the British, in 1795.
Born in Ireland, and educated at Trinity College in Dublin, Macartney served as a member of the British and Irish parliaments, and was knighted in 1764. After a mission to Russia, in which he concluded a commercial treaty with the Czar, he was appointed governor of the Antilles [West Indies] from 1775-80. During his term of office, however, he was captured by the French, and taken to France. On his release he was governor of Madras, in India, from 1781-85. He was a British envoy to the Emperor of China from 1792-94.
In 1797 he became the first civilian British governor of the Cape Colony. Although conservative and autocratic by nature, and plagued by gout and ill health, his 18 months in office were marked by some positive achievements. He retained most of the Dutch officials in their posts and gave them full support. The Dutch East India Company had paid low salaries on an irregular basis, which encouraged corruption. Instead, he instituted reasonable salary scales, and ensured regular payments, thereby promoting a tradition of integrity in the civil service. Furthermore, he softened the harsh penal code previously prevailing at the Cape.
He promoted harmony between the farmers in the Eastern Cape and their Xhosa and San (Bushmen) neighbors, enjoining the farmers to desist from reprisal raids against the San. He also obtained a promise from Gaika to show respect for the farmers’ rights. It was also during the final year of his governorship, in 1798, that the Cape’s first post office was opened. In the same year he retired, because of poor health, to return to England, where he died in 1806.
VIRGINIA CURTIN KNIGHT
