 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (May 2012) |
Alexander Maconochie | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 February 1787 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died | 25 October 1860 (aged 73)[1] |
| Resting place | St Lawrence Church, Morden, Surrey 51°23′32.1″N 0°12′15.11″W / 51.392250°N 0.2041972°W |
| Occupation | Naval officer |
| Known for | Penal reform in Australia and England |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1803–1815 |
| Rank | Captain |
Alexander Maconochie (11 February 1787 – 25 October 1860) was a Scottish naval officer, geographer and penal reformer.[2]
In 1840, Maconochie became the Governor of Norfolk Island, a prison island in which convicts were treated with severe brutality and were seen as lost causes. Upon reaching the island, Maconochie immediately instituted policies that restored dignity to prisoners and achieved remarkable success in prisoner rehabilitation. Those policies were well in advance of their time, but Maconochie was politically undermined.
His ideas would be largely ignored and forgotten, only to be readopted as the basis of modern penal systems over a century later, during the mid-to-late 20th century. He was also the first professor of Geography at the University College London.
- ^ Serle, Percival (1949). "Maconochie, Alexander". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson., Vol. 2, pp. 184–186. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
- ^ Barry, John V., "Alexander Maconochie (1787–1860)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 20 December 2023