BARRINGTON, GEORGE (b. 1755)

This article appears in Volume V03, Page 437 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BAR-BEC

BARRINGTON, GEORGE (b. 1755) , an Irishman with a curious history, was born at Maynooth on the 14th of May 1755, the son of a working silversmith named Waldron. In 1771 he robbed his schoolmaster at Dublin and ran away from school, becoming a member of a touring theatrical company under the assumed name of Barrington. At Limerick races he joined the manager of the company in pocket-picking. The manager was detected and sentenced to transportation, and Barrington fled to London, where he assumed clerical dress and continued his pocket-picking. At Covent

Garden

GARDEN (from O. Fr. garden, mod. Fr. jardin; this, like our words " garth," a paddock attached to a building, and " yard," comes from a Teutonic word for an enclosure which appears in Gothic as gards and O. H. Ger. gart, cf. Dutch gaarde and Ger. .garten)

theatre he robbed the Russian prince Orlov of a snuff-box, said to be worth 30,000. He was
detected and arrested, but as Prince Orlov declined to prosecute, was discharged, though subsequently he was sentenced to three years' hard labour for pocket-picking at

Drury

DRURY, SIR WILLIAM (1527-1579)

Lane

theatre. On his release he was again caught at his old practices and sentenced to five years' hard labour, but influence secured his release on the

condition

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

that he left England. He accordingly went for a short time to Dublin, and then returned to London, where he was once more detected pocket-picking, and, in 1790, sentenced to seven years' transportation. On the voyage out to Botany Bay a conspiracy was hatched by the convicts on board to seize the ship. Barrington disclosed the

plot

PLOT
PLOT, ROBERT (164o-1696)

to the captain, and the latter, on reaching New

South

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

Wales, reported him favourably to the authorities, with the result that in 1792 Barrington obtained a warrant of emancipation (the first issued), becoming subsequently superintendent of convicts and later high constable of Paramatta. In 1796 a theatre was opened at Sydney, the

principal

PRINCIPAL

actors being convicts, and Barrington wrote the prologue to the first production. This prologue has obtained a wide publicity. It begins:
" From distant climes, o'er widespread seas, we come, Though not with much eclat or beat of drum;
True patriots we, for, be it understood,
We left our country for our country's good."
Barrington died at a ripe old age at Paramatta, but the exact date is not on

record

RECORD (Lat. recordari, to recall to mind, from cor, heart or mind)

. He was the author of A Voyage to Botany Bay (London, 18o1); The History of New

South

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

Wales (London, 1802); The History of New Holland (London, 18o8).

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