Field, Barron (1786 - 1846)

Summary

Barron Field served as Judge of the Supreme Court of Civil Judicature in New South Wales between 1817 and his return to England in 1824. During this time he also presided over the first sitting of the Supreme Court of Van Diemen's Land in 1819. One of his judgements gave rise to what is now known as terra nullius. While not noted for his ability to get along with his fellow colonists, Field was a was active in local societies. He was a President of the Agricultural Society of New South Wales from 1822 to 1824, and a founding member of the Philosophical Society of Australasia (PSA). On returning to the United Kingdom, he published Geographical memoirs on New South Wales, one of the earliest collections of scientific papers relating to Australia. Included in the volume were five papers presented to the PSA. Field was commemorated in the monotypic plant genus Fieldia A. Cunn. (Genseriaceae) and the orchid Fieldia Gaud. (Orchidaceae) = Vandopsis.

Details

Chronology

1814

Career event - Called to the bar, Inner Temple, London

24 February 1817

Life event - Arrived in Sydney, New South Wales

1819

Career event - Founded the first savings bank in New South Wales

1819

Life event - Published First fruits of Australian poetry

1821 - 1822

Career position - Foundation Member, Philosophical Society of Australasia

1822

Career position - Founding Vice-President, Agricultural Society of New South Wales

1822 - 1824

Career position - President, Agricultural Society of New South Wales

1824

Life event - Recalled to United Kingdom

1825 - 1846?

Award - Fellow, Linnean Society of London

1828

Career event - Appointed Advocate-General in Ceylon

1829

Career event - Appointed Judge, Court of Civil Pleas, Gibraltar

1844

Life event - Returned to the United Kingdom

Related entries

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• Barron Field judgment : Marsden, Lawson and Douglass, 1823, 942398; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Extracts from records, regarding Judge Barron Field at Gibraltar, 1829 - 1841, 917085; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Letter from Louis de Freycinet to Barron Field, 6 July 1820, 455936; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Volume 249 Item 2: Angus & Robertson miscellaneous material - Barron Field letters and letter from R. Therry, 1824 and 1861, 1824 - 1861, 1002124; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

State Records New South Wales, Sydney Reading Room

• Copies of letters sent and received, mainly within the colony, or "Document books Nos. 1-3, 01 January 1817 - 30 October 1827, Series 938; State Records New South Wales, Sydney Reading Room. Details
• Registers of important documents, commissions, oaths and licences, 1 January 1817 - 30 April 1863, Series 1059; State Records New South Wales, Sydney Reading Room. Details

Published resources

Books

• Ford, Thomas H. and Clements, Justin, Barron Field in New South Wales: the poetics of Terra nullius (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2023), 224 pp. Details
• Kent, Thomas, A letter to Barron Field, esq : late judge of the supreme court, and president of the Agricultural Society of New South Wales : containing a refutation of the groundless assertions put forth by him to the prejudice of Van Diemen's land (London, England: Longman, 1824), 88 pp. Details
• Orchard, A. E.; and Orchard, T. A., The Botanist and the Judge: Allan Cunningham in Tasmania 1818-1819 (Weston Creek (A.C.T.): the Authors, 2014), 176 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Field, Barron, 'On the rivers of New South Wales' in Geographical memoirs on New South Wales, Barron Field, ed. (London: John Murray, 1825), pp. 297-312. Details
• Field, Barron, 'On the Aborigines of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land' in Geographical memoirs on New South Wales, Barron Field, ed. (London: John Murray, 1825), pp. 193-229. Details

Edited Books

• Barron, Field ; and Little Geoffrey eds, Barron Field's memoirs of Wordsworth (Sydney, NSW, Australia: Sydney University Press for the Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1975). Details
• Field, Barron ed., Geographical memoirs on New South Wales (London: John Murray, 1825), 504 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Clemens, Justin, 'Barron Field and the myth of Terra nullius', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, 151 (2) (2018), 135-41. Details
• Hewson, Helen, 'Justice for Justice Barron Field', Telopea, 11 (1) (2005), 95-8. Details

Reports

• Field, Barron, Regulations of the New South Wales Saving Bank : a depositary for the savings of the poor. To which is prefixed a plain address to the convicts on their arrival and to the small settlers, mechanics, servants and labourers of the colony (Sydney, NSW: Howe Government Printer, 1819). http://digital.sl.nsw.gov.au/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?embedded=true&toolbar=false&dps_pid=IE3701424. Details
• Field, Barron, A vindication of the practice of not allowing the counsel for prisoners accused of felony to make speeches for them (London, England: Butterworth, J, 1828). Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q4863806. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/44656928. Details
• 'Field, Barron (1786-18461231)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-553873. Details

Seminar Papers

• Field, Barron, 'First anniversary address (by the president) : list of members : and rules and regulations of the Agricultural Society of New South Wales, instituted on the 5th of July, 1822.' (Sydney, NSW: Robert Howe, Government Printer, 1823), p. 24. Details

See also

• Maiden, J. H., 'Records of Australian botanists:- (a) general; (b) New South Wales', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, 42 (1908), 60-132. Details