Bishop, Captain Peter

BISHOP, Captain Peter (1789–1846) of Bishopscourt, Waterford, Ireland, joined the British Army in the 40^th Regiment as a Commissioned Ensign in 1803. After serving at a Captain in the Napoleonic Wars, he married Julia Talbot, sister of John Talbot, the future 16th Earl of Shrewsbury in 1815. After her death in 1820, he married Elizabeth Dormer. Bishop served in the Peninsular Wars where he badly injured in the Battle of Nivelle, and at the Battle of Waterloo. He arrived in Sydney in 1824 with the 40th Regiment to guard convicts. In August 1825 he was appointed to succeed Lt Henry MILLER as Commandant of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement which by then had relocated from Redcliffe to Brisbane. Buildings erected during Bishop’s time were “temporary”—mostly constructed of slabs, plastered, and shingled. They included the commandant’s residence, the first barracks (later incorporated in the lumber yard), and a store (superseded by the Commissariat Store). In his final report of March 1826 Bishop urged that a “master builder” capable of furnishing plans and estimates be sent before any permanent buildings could be erected. At that stage, there were two slab splitters, four sawyers, four brickmakers, two bricklayers, four lime burners, two plasterers, five carpenters, and three shinglers. Despite his recommendation, just before his departure he prepared plans for a hospital, after unsuccessfully seeking plans from Maj John OVENS, Acting Chief Engineer in Sydney. Bishop’s design, like recent penal hospitals built elsewhere, was partly completed in 1827. He was succeeded as Moreton Bay Commandant by Patrick LOGAN with Lt J OVENS as Acting Engineer. Bishop later served in the Lake Bathurst and Illawarra Districts and in Van Diemen’s Land before departing for London in 1828. He retired from the army soon afterwards and was appointed an honorary colonel. He died at Leamington, Warwickshire, England.