Name

Thomas Wingate

Culture

Australian

Gender

Male

Birth date

9 March 1807

Birth place

Verdun, Fance View on map Close map

Death date

1869

Death Place

Potts Point, Sydney, Australia View on map Close map

Movements

Scotland from c1815; Ceylon October 1828 - November 1833; Stirling, Scotland from July 1833; London from April 1834; India from 1835 - January 1842; Sydney from 1834; India and Afghanistan from 1839; England and Scotland from 1842; Australia from c1852

Occupations

Photographer

NGA IRN

24354

Context

Australia

Biography

"Thomas Wingate was born on 9 March 1807 in Verdun, France where his father, Lieutenant (later Commander) George Thomas Wingate RN, was a prisoner of war from 1806 till 1813/14. He was the second of 5 children born to Lt. G. T. Wingate and his wife Thomzin Devonshire; the 4 youngest were all born in Verdun whilst their father was a POW. All 5 children were christened in Stirling, Scotland, in 1815 following their father's release from captivity.

The British Army lists give the information that Thomas Wingate purchased an ensigncy on 13 May 1826 in the 7th Regiment of Foot (Ross-shire Buffs) and served in Ceylon from October 1828 till November 1832. He obtained his Lieutenancy 13 May 1830. Around the beginning of July 1833, Thomas was back in Stirling where he transferred to the 2nd Regiment of Foot (Queens Royal) on 8 November 1833.

Thomas Wingate was in London in April 1834, then served in India from March
1835 - January 1842. These dates fit in with the assumption that he was in Sydney in late 1834. The "Henry Tanner" arrived Sydney on 26 October 1834, having sailed from London on 1 July. It carried 220 male prisoners, and a guard consisting of Capt Patterson, 6th Regt; Lt Wingate, 2nd Regt; 30 rank and file of the 50th Regt. This could feasibly be Thomas en route to India – it was not uncommon for soldiers to travel to India via Australia as guards on convict ships. He was the only Wingate in the 2nd Foot, and the only Thomas Wingate listed in the Army at this time.

The "Henry Tanner" departed Sydney for Madras on 1 January 1835, carrying horses for the HEIC. Passengers included Capt Patterson, as well as other army officers and their families. No Lt Wingate appears on passenger lists, however the lists vary from source to source, and may be incomplete. The only other likely vessels departing for India around this time were the "Royal Saxon", which left for Madras and Calcutta on 5 March, with passengers Miss Catherine Cooney and one child; and HMS Alligator, which sailed for Madras on 27 November 1834.

Lt. T. Wingate saw active service in India (and Afghanistan) during the Ghuznee campaign on 23 July 1839. Wingate was a talented artist and prepared a series of lithographs depicting many aspects of this short campaign including the storming columns entering the fortress of Ghuznee. On 13 November 1839 he commanded the leading company of the advance on Khelat.

In December 1841 Thomas was a Brevet Captain in HM 2nd Foot at Poona, and was granted two years leave of absence to England for the recovery of health,. This was promptly cancelled and Wingate was called upon to explain a line of conduct so much at variance with Military discipline. The weekly report of the Brigade Major Queens Troops had revealed that Wingate had proceeded from Bombay to Poona without leave, merely reporting his departure to the Brigade Major in a letter, which he received after Wingate had gone on what he termed a Medical Certificate. His leave was reinstated in January 1842, his explanation having been satisfactory, "although an irregularity has been committed". Thomas proceeded to England on the Medical Certificate, however, having declared his intention to retire from the service, he was to be responsible for the payment of the passage to India of the Officer who may succeed to his Commission in case he should quit the service, exchange to another Corps or to Half-Pay.

At the beginning of March 1843, Wingate, still a Lieutenant in the 2nd Queen's Royal Regiment, was back at Stirling, and was appointed to the Recruiting Service at Glasgow. He remained there until November 1844, when he requested to be relieved from the Recruiting Service. Lt Campbell of the 83rd was appointed in his place at Glasgow from 1 December. Wingate was granted leave of absence from 11 November 1844 - 31 January 1845, "by which time it is expected that he will return to his Regimental Duty". From December 1844 till December 1845 he remained listed on the strength of the 2nd, but no longer on the Recruiting Service. He must have been somewhere around Brompton at the end of April 1845, as he was invited to a dance at the Brompton Barracks by the Royal Engineers.

At the end of March 1846 he was promoted to Captain in the 2nd, "without purchase", in lieu of the deceased Captain Carney. Captain Thomas Wingate retired from the 2nd (The Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot on 9 June 1846.

There is then a blank in Wingate's whereabouts until 1852 with the arrival in Sydney of the "Havering" and the mysterious Captain Wingate in February, and a watercolour on the Murrumbidgee in September (is this a potential link to him visiting with his sister Elizabeth). He is easier to track later in the 1850s, largely courtesy of the NSW Volunteer Rifles. (Wingate gave evidence to an 1855 Select Committee on the Volunteer Corps Act of 1854, which gives a good picture of their operation). Around September 1854, when he received his commission as Major in the Sydney Volunteer Rifles, Thomas, whose profession was given as "Gentleman", resided at 55 Botany Street, Surry Hills. He subsequently moved to 2 Woolloomooloo Street, then No 3 Lower Fort.

In 1854 Thomas Wingate was commissioned Major and was appointed the first Commanding Officer of the 1st NSW Rifle Volunteers. He married Eleanor Terry and lived at Potts Point.

Eleanor Terry (nee Rouse) was born in NSW 13 May 1813, the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Rouse. She married (i) John Terry (1806-42) and (ii) Major Thomas Wingate in 1857. She died in May 1898 and he in 1869. They lived at Percy Lodge, Wylde Street, Potts Point, Sydney. (see SAMUEL TERRY by Gwyneth M Dow, 1974)."

[Information kindly supplied by Mike Hallinan, with refrence to Michael R Downey's article "Major Thomas Wingate - An Early Australian Reservist.", in Sabretache vol XLIII, June 2002]