This brief biography is taken from ‘A Catalogue of Notable Middle Templars: With Brief Biographical Notices’ by John Hutchinson and Published by Printed by Butterworth and Co. for the Honourable society of the Middle Temple in 1902
Admitted 5 February, 1817.
Eldest son of D’Arcy Wentworth of New South Wales. He claimed descent from the great Earl of Stratford, and was undoubtedly connected with the Wentworths of Yorkshire, though of Irish extraction. His father emigrated to New South Wales in 1790, and held an important position there. The son was sent to England in 1800 to be educated. Returning to Australia, he joined the exploration party of Blaxland and Lawson across the Blue Mountains. He returned to England in 1816, and matriculated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he was at the time of his admission to the Middle Temple. In 1819 he published A Statistical Account of the British Settlement in Australia, in which he endeavoured to stimulate imperial patriotism, and which soon ran to a third edition. In 1823 he obtained the second place in the competition for the prize poem on Australasia, won by Mackworm Praed (q.v.), and his production is now considered the finer effort. He was called to the Bar 8 Feb. 1822, and then returned to Sydney, where he established a newspaper called the Australian, in which he set on foot an agitation which led to the recall of Governor Darling in 1831. In 1842, when parliamentary institutions were conferred on Australia, he was elected for Sydney. He became the head of the ” Squatter Party ” in the Colony, his aim being to “secure self-government for his native land.” In 1848 he was again elected for Sydney along with Robert Lowe. In 1849 he brought in a Bill for the foundation of the Sydney University, which was inaugurated in 1852, and he was largely responsible for the drafting of the Constitution subsequently conferred on the Colony. He was, moreover, the first to advocate a federal association of the Australian Colonies, and may be regarded as the forerunner of the movement which has resulted in the formation of the Australian “Commonwealth.” In 1862 he returned to England, and died at Merly House, Wimborne, Dorset, 20 March, 1872. His remains were removed to Sydney for burial 6 May of that year.
