Prosper de Mestre
Australian businessman (1789-1844)
Jean Charles Prosper de Mestre (15 August 1789– 14 September 1844), known as Prosper de Mestre, was a French-born prominent businessman in Sydney, Australia from 1818 until near his death in 1844. He was a "citizen of the world", (His citizenship was listed as French, American and Australian) who played an important role in the development of commerce and banking in the British Colony of New South Wales. He became a successful merchant and business leader in Sydney. In 1825 he became the second person to be naturalised in the colony. In addition to being one of the early directors of the Bank of New South Wales between 1826 and 1842, he was also a founder of the local insurance industry, a member of the committee of the Agricultural Society of New South Wales, and became involved in importing, shipping and whaling. There are numerous references to his business activities in the Colonial Secretary's papers of the day.
Background
De Mestre was also the father of Etienne Livingstone de Mestre (1832–1916), the trainer of Archer the horse who won the first and second Melbourne Cups in 1861 and 1862, and the foremost Australian horse trainer of his era. His other descendants include: Sarah Melanie de Mestre (1877–1961) who distinguished herself as a nurse in France and Flanders in World War I, and whose decorations included the Royal Red Cross which was presented to her at Buckingham Palace by King George V on 3 June 1918 (the King's birthday); Roy de Maistre (1894–1968), a successful Australian artist; Guboo Ted Thomas (1909–2002) a prominent Aboriginal leader, and the last initiated tribal elder on the South Coast of New South Wales; Margaret Augusta de Mestre (1915–1942), a nurse who was killed in action on a hospital ship on 26 February 1942 in the bombing of Darwin during World War II; Neville de Mestre (c.1938- ), an eminent Australian mathematician and author, Emeritus Professor of Maths at Bond University, and who has held the titles of World Iron Man champion in the 60-64 age group, and Australian and World Masters surfing champion in the over-65 group for body surfing; and Lloyd Nolan Hornsby (1947- ), a prominent Aboriginal artist.
It is not true that Prosper, or his younger sister Melanie, are the children of Julie de St Laurent. It is therefore also not true that Prosper is the son of a liaison between Julie de St Laurent and Edward Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria.
The public source identifies “Prosper de Mestre” as australian businessman (1789-1844). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Prosper, Mestre and Australian.
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This entry incorporates text from “Prosper de Mestre” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.