Now here is a truly scarce banknote that is begging for a home with a discerning collector or investor.
Looks and feels as if it has been freshly taken from a bundle.
Crisp, clean paper without a single blemish. At over 35 years old it is a beautiful note that has survived remarkably well.
This one has the Gothic No.18 font and centre thread.
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John Macarthur was commissioned as an ensign in Fish’s Corps, a regiment of the British Army formed to serve in the American War of Independence. The war ended before the regiment was ready to sail and was disbanded in 1783. On half-pay, Macarthur went to live on a farm near Holsworthy in Devon, where he evidently pursued a program of self-education and became interested in ‘rural occupations’. During the next five years Macarthur used his spare time to travel, read, and perhaps contemplate a future at the bar Instead, in April 1788, Macarthur returned to full-pay army duties, securing a commission as an ensign in the 68th Foot (later Durham Light Infantry), a regiment which had been stationed at Gibraltar since 1785. Ensuing negotiations with the War Office resulted in an alternative posting to far-away Sydney, with the New South Wales Corps in 1789. He sailed on the Neptune in the Second Fleet, the ‘worst ship in the worst of Australian fleets. Before the Neptune had even departed the British Isles, Macarthur became involved in disputations with various personnel, including fighting a duel with Captain Gilbert, the Master of the Neptune. Further disputes were provoked by the cramped and squalid accommodation provided for his wife and infant son on board the Neptune. This eventually resulted in his family being transferred mid-voyage and on the high seas, to the Scarborough, another Second Fleet ship.He arrived in Sydney in 1790 holding the rank of lieutenant and was appointed as commandant at Parramatta. In February 1793, the acting governor, Major Francis Grose, granted Macarthur 100 acres (0.40km2) of land at Rose Hill near Parramatta. He was granted a further 100 acres (0.40km2) in April 1794 for being the first man to clear and cultivate 50 acres (200,000 m2) of land. He named the property Elizabeth Farm in honour of his wife, Elizabeth Macarthur. Grose came to depend on Macarthur’s administrative skills and appointed him as paymaster for the regiment and as superintendent of public works, which Macarthur resigned in 1796 to concentrate on his business and farming interests.
*All biographical details are taken from Wikipedia for education purposes only.
