Anthony Fenn Kemp

Anthony Fenn Kemp (1773 – 28 October 1868) was a soldier, merchant and a deputy judge advocate of the colony of New South Wales (the predecessor to the Australian State). He was one of the key participants in the "Rum Rebellion" that removed William Bligh, the appointed governor of the colony, and established an interim military government. He was later permitted to settle in Van Diemen's Land and became a successful merchant and farmer there.

Kemp was born in England, near Aldgate, London, probably around 1773. He was educated in Greenwich, London. After finishing school, he travelled to the United States and to France. On his return, he purchased a commission as an ensign in the New South Wales Corps, a regiment raised in England specifically to maintain discipline in the colony of New South Wales. It later was to become known as the Rum Corps, because of the monopoly by its officers on the supply of the liquor in the early years of the colony.

Kemp arrived in Sydney with his regiment in 1795. He served in Sydney and also on Norfolk Island, which was then a settlement of New South Wales. In 1797, he was promoted to lieutenant. In November 1799, he was granted a lease of land in the centre of Sydney where he built a shop. At that time, it was common for senior military officers to be granted land to settle and farm in the colonies. Kemp prospered in the colony. As paymaster for his company and then later paymaster for the whole of the corps, he was able to use his position to trade his "wares at high prices".

Kemp returned to England on leave in 1800, and was promoted to the rank of captain in 1801. He returned to Sydney in 1802 where he married Elizabeth Riley, sister of early New South Wales merchants and pastoralists, Alexander Riley and Edward Riley and daughter of London bookseller George Riley. In the same year, he was received as a freemason in what is thought to have been the first lodge assembled in Australia.

The arrival of the French ship the Atlas in 1802 is an illustration of Kemp's attitude to his economic interests in the colony. French Captain Nicholas Baudin brought a cargo of brandy to sell. The governor, Philip King, refused to allow the cargo to be landed, probably due to the then English monopolies on the sale of goods. After various arguments with Baudin, Kemp alleged that Baudin was illegally selling the brandy on shore. The governor investigated the matter. Kemp was forced to apologise to Baudin after the governor determined that there was no evidence of the sale.

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