Francis Robert Chester Master

Lieutenant Francis Robert Chester Master (1823 – 1913) was posted to the Moreton Bay penal station from May to November 1844 as part of the military detachment sent north to guard the convict inmates. He served another eight years in NSW, then returned to Moreton Bay in 1852 with his wife Emma Jane Macarthur, granddaughter of Governor Philip Gidley King. After holding various government positions — including magistrate, Usher of the Black Rod, and District Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages — Francis Robert Chester Master died in Rockhampton in 1913.

Master was born in Bristol, England to William Chester Master, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the 3rd Fusilier Guards, and his wife Isabella Margaret Digby. After serving at Moreton Bay for six months, he returned to Sydney where he was appointed aide-de-camp to the Governor of NSW in 1848. In January 1852, Master married Emma Jane Macarthur (6th daughter of Hannibal Macarthur and Anna Maria King, daughter of Governor Philip Gidley King) at St John’s Anglican Church in Stroud, NSW.

The couple moved to Queensland where “Francis Robert Chester Master, Esquire, of Gladfield, Warwick” was appointed as a magistrate in April 1852. He became a founding member of the North Australian Jockey Club at Ipswich on 11 June 1852. From 1855, Master was secretary/treasurer of the Brisbane Cricket Club and a steward with the Brisbane Horse Racing Club. In June 1853 Master bought Mangula cattle station at Tenterfield, New South Wales and applied for permission for two German vinedressers to emigrate to Queensland to work on his property. Master’s years of government appointments included Usher of the Black Rod to the Legislative Council of Queensland and the District Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Rockhampton, a post from which he retired in 1902. Francis Robert Chester Master died in Rockhampton in 1913 and is buried at the South Rockhampton Cemetery

The Master family’s surname is recorded as Master, Chester Master and Chester-Master. Francis’ brother, Charles Chester Master, also a Lieutenant in the 58th Regiment, died on 7 December 1847 aged 27 in New South Wales. Through his wife Emma Jane Macarthur, Francis was related to the Macarthur sisters who married into the Leslie family. His youngest daughter, Lillian Chester Master, born in Queensland in 1862, was a nurse at the Bristol Military Hospital in England during World War I. Her photograph appears in a Sydney Mail article dated 15 May 1918 featuring photographs of the many descendants of Philip Gidley King who served in World War I. (See link below.)

Note: This biography is based on research by Rod Pratt, Visiting Fellow, Harry Gentle Resource Centre, with additional research by Jan Richardson.

Citation

Rod Pratt and Jan Richardson, ‘Francis Robert Chester Master (1823 – 1913) ‘, Harry Gentle Resource Centre, Griffith University, 2022 (updated 2023), https://harrygentle.griffith.edu.au/life-stories/francis-robert-chester-master/.

Archival Resources

Letter to Colonial Secretary

State Library of Queensland (SLQ), A2 Series, Reel A2.32, p. 365, F R Chester Master to Colonial Secretary, letter dated 27 Dec 1853, CS Ref No 54/2110.

List of Magistrates

SLQ, A2 Series, Reel A2.33, p. 177, J C Wickham, Police Office, Brisbane, List of Magistrates, 1 Oct 1855.

Birth Registration

Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Qld Reg BDM), 1854/BBP/804, Francis Egerton Chester Master, birth registration, 14 Feb 1853.

Birth Registration

Qld Reg BDM, 1856/B/118, Carteret Ernest Chester Master, birth registration, 26 Jul 1856.

Birth Registration

Qld Reg BDM, 1859/C/2074, Annie Chester Master, birth registration, 28 Mar 1859.

Birth Registration

Qld Reg BDM, 1862/B/1260, Lillian Emmeline Isabel Chester Master, birth registration, 4 Aug 1862.

Death Registration

Qld Reg BDM, 1859/C/780, Annie Master [sic], death registration, 29 Mar 1859.