Lieutenant General Francis Grose 1758-1814

After service in the American War of Independence, in 1792 as a Major he was appointed lieutenant-governor of New South Wales and commandant of the New South Wales Corps which he helped to raise.

When Governor Philip departed, he was Acting Governor until the arrival of Captain Hunter in 1794. He made extensive land grants, opening up the Hawkesbury area to settlement. Otherwise his administration was lax, enabling the entrenchment of control of the colony by the NSW Corps officers and the growth of the rum trade. His liberality increased the burden of the military and civil establishments and the underemployed convict population on the Commissariat.

After return to England, he advanced in the army to the rank of lieutenant general.