Vice-Admiral William Bligh FRS RN 1754-1817

An officer of the Royal Navy, he survived a mutiny on his ship Bounty in 1789, and distinguished himself later under Admiral Nelson.

He subsequently became Governor of New South Wales in 1806. His efforts to control the excesses of the New South Wales Corps, with a court martial scheduled for John Macarthur who had been accused of dishonesty by Commissary John Palmer, provoked a mutiny led by Major George Johnston and Macarthur in 1808, with Bligh arrested.

The two conspirators were returned to England – Johnston found guilty and punished mildly in recogiition of his having been merely a tool of Macarthur, who was exiled. Bligh was exonerated and promoted to Admiral.