It was a beautiful morning in January of 1795, or maybe a colder than usual evening in the southern Indian city of Cochin, because nobody knows the details except for the fact that a British army officer bought two young Indian boys for 170 Indian Rupees.
The officer was Lachlan Macquarie, originally from Scotland, who was to go on to become the fifth Governor-General of New South Wales in 1810 and be regarded as the “Father of the Nation” for his part in the economic and social coordination of the new colony.
He wrote in his diary about the incident.
Lachlan Macquarie portrait (ca 1805-1824) Source: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
“Lt Gray returned from Cochin and brought me two very fine well looking healthy black boys, both seemingly of the same age. And I should suppose from their size and their appearance that they must be six years and seven years of age.
“The stoutest of them Mrs Macquarie has called Hector after my brother. And the smallest I have called George after her brother. The two slave boys cost 170 Rupees. We had the boys immediately well-washed, their hair cut, combed and well clothed.”
George Jarvis was to remain with Lachlan Macquarie, one of the most influential people in Australia's history, for the rest of his life.
Who was George Jarvis?
Historian Robin Walsh has worked for decades to find the answer to this question.
He says it’s a question of what was George Jarvis as much as who was George Jarvis.
“We do know that he was Lachlan Macquarie’s child slave. He became his manservant and his valet but most importantly he became Macquarie’s friend.
"So it was a friendship that extended over 30 years. And from Macquarie’s diaries and journals and letters, there are a number of references to George that allow us to join pieces together, who was George,” he says.
Robin Walsh, historian and former curator of the Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Room located inside Macquarie University Library, Sydney. Source: SBS Hindi
Robin Walsh worked at Macquarie University library for 30 years. And during that time he devoted much attention to the life and times of Governor Lachlan Macquarie as a curator of the Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie room which is part of Macquarie's original house in Scotland. The room was sent to Australia in the 1960s.
Lachlan Macquarie spent many years in India before coming to Australia.
Source: Lachlan Macquarie
He went to India as a British army officer in 1788 and stayed there for 13 years, participating in the final Battle of Sri Rangapattam which killed legendary ruler Tipu Sultan and paved the way for the British East India Company to dominate much of the country.
It was during his time in India that he bought George and Hector, two Indian slave boys in 1795.
Discovery of the body of Tipu Sahib at Seringapatam, 1799. Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, India. From Hutchinson's History of the Nations, published 1915. Source: Getty / Universal Images Group Editorial
Hector ran away or got lost in Kolkata. In 1801 George accompanied Macquarie to Egypt.
“From there he was taken by Macquarie’s younger brother Charles via the Mediterranean Sea and Gibraltar to Scotland where he remained until 1805. It was during this time that George’ would have been granted his full freedom. Under Scottish law, he could not be considered a slave.
“He waited there until Macquarie returned from India in 1804. Then in 1805 Macquarie was posted back to India and he took George back with him as his servant,” explains Robin Walsh.
In Bombay, George and Hector attended school briefly in 1797-1798.
Though he was a free man, George remained with his buyer until his death.
Artist's illustration of Macquarie surveying the boys Source: Raj Verma
He accompanied Macquarie and his second wife Elizabeth to Australia arriving in December of 1809.
During the voyage to Australia, there is a comment about George that is written by one of the passengers. It is an indicator of how other people view George.
Ellis Bent, who was going to be the new judge advocate in New South Wales, describes events that took place onboard Macquarie’s ship HMS Dromedary.
We only know about George through Macquarie’s writings which makes the detective hunt all the more interesting.
Referring to his son, Mr Bent writes, “Our dear little boy is very good in health, and we think he is improving daily. He has a thousand funny little tricks. Nothing escapes his notice. He is, I assure you, a favourite with everyone. He is particularly fond of a black Hindu servant of Colonel Macquarie’s, and he frequently cries to go to him.”
Robin Walsh points out that George was known as a black Hindu slave despite being a close aide of the most powerful man in Australia at that time.
North View of Sydney, New South Wales, 1820 / J. Lycett Source: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
“I always refer to George as Macquarie’s silent witness. And so we only know about George through Macquarie’s writings which makes the detective hunt all the more interesting, because we have this shadow play where glimpses of George appearing on the sidelines of Macquarie’s life.”
George accompanied Macquarie on many tours of inspection in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania).
“The Blue Mountains were recently crossed for the first time, and a road had been built across. So the Governor and his wife decided to take a party of officials across the mountains to establish the settlement there.
Artist's illustration of George Jarvis with his wife Mary Jelly. Source: Raj Verma
"And George accompanies the Macquaries across the Blue Mountains making him probably the first Indian born person to cross the Blue Mountains. He was there to watch the raising of the flag at Bathurst in May 1815.”
Then, in 1820 a young girl arrived in Sydney in January. Mary Jelly had been sentenced to seven years transportation and after arriving in Australia served as a chambermaid at Government House.
George proposed to her, and they got married.
Robin Walsh says it's hard to know whether this was love at first sight or whether Mary saw this as an opportunity to gain her freedom by marrying George.
“It was an opportunity for her to become part of the Macquarie’s household. And she also accompanied the Macquaries as the wife of George on several of their journeys of discovery and explorations.”
A statue of Major General Lachlan Macquarie stands in Sydney's Hyde Park on August 29, 2017. Source: AAP
Their first child was born in December but died within six days.
In 1822 the Macquaries return to Britain and soon started touring Europe.
“For the next 7 months, George is travelling to France, Italy and Switzerland," says Robin Walsh
"He goes to Paris, Rome, Naples, Venice, Geneva. He sees all of those sights and then in August of 1823 he returns to Scotland and is reunited with his wife and daughter.
"In the following year in about April of 1824 Macquarie decides to go back to London to argue for a pension. And a possible knighthood from the King for his services in NSW. So he takes George with him as his valet. They travel down to London.”
Artist's illustration of George Jarvis with his wife Mary Jelly and daughter Elizabeth. Source: Raj Verma
That was the last trip Macquarie took. He died in London on 1 July 1824.
Robin Walsh says George was in the room with Elizabeth when Macquarie died.
“He helped with the funeral arrangements. They take the body back to the family on the Isle of Mull. Macquarie was buried there in mid-July of 1824.”
In his will, Lachlan Macquarie provided a £25 annuity for George "during his natural life', stating that should George 'prefer living on my Estate in Mull after my decease . . . he may be allowed to do so on my farm of Gruline and that he shall be comfortably fed, clothed and lodged there at the expense of my Heirs and successors during his natural life independent of the annuity herein already allowed him."
Artist's illustration of Macquarie’s last moments in London on 1 July 1824. Source: Raj Verma
However, six months later, in January 1825, George Jarvis also died, believed to be aged around 35.
The cause of his death remains unknown and ironically, Robin Walsh says, the day George was buried marked 30 years from the day he was purchased in Cochin.
A relative of Lachlan Macquarie was present during George’s burial, writing in his diary:
“I spent the day with the colonel (Lachlan Macquarie’s brother Charles Macquarie) and his family. The colonel himself being home to attend a funeral of his late brother’s black servant George at Jarvis field,” the diary entry reads.
George Jarvis’ only daughter, young Elizabeth lived on the Isle of Mull for most of her life and died there in 1894. None of her children survived.
Artist's illustration of the burial of George Jarvis on the Isle of Mull Source: Raj Verma
Robin Walsh says George’s relevance is to highlight the power of silence.
“I regard George as Macquarie’s silent witness," he says.
"He allows us to tease out the details of the historical record in a different way. So, it is almost as if we invert our gaze.
"So rather than seeing Macquarie as the centre of George’s story, we need to turn so that George stands at the centre of history and he looks out, and he informs us about Lachlan, his wife, the other officials who were here at the colony of New South Wales.”
