Augustus Alt

Baron Augustus Theodore Harman Alt von Hesse-Kassel (1731 – 9 January 1815) was a British soldier and Australia's first Surveyor-General.

Augustus Theodore Harman Alt was born to father Jost Heinrich (anglicised to Just Henry), a Hessian, and mother Jeannetta Preston, a Scotswoman, probably in London, but possibly overseas, in 1731. Just Henry entered the service of the Landgrave in Sweden as Writer to Major General Ernst Hartmann von Diemar, with whom he moved to London in 1725 as Registrar. Henry successively became Secretary, Private Secretary, Counsellor, Minister, and, 1760, Privy Counsellor, until his death in 1768. In later life he assumed the title "Baron of Hesse-Kassel," though its provenance is unclear as the title "Baron" was never awarded by the German Emperor. Nonetheless, a grant of arms was later awarded to the family by the British monarch.

Augustus was the third eldest of at least seven children, four boys and three girls, and possibly nine if another reported brother and sister are included.

By 1755 Augustus was Ensign in the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot. In 1757 as Lieutenant he accompanied Sir John Mordaunt's expedition to Rochefort, France. From 1760 during the Seven Years' War he served as aide-de-camp to General Henry Seymour Conway, and appears to have liaised with Prince Ferdinand. He ended up at the siege of Kassel in 1762, returning with the regiment in 1763, thereafter assisting it to build roads in Scotland until 1764. During late 1777 he helped raise the 72nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Manchester Volunteers) and served with that regiment at the Great Siege of Gibraltar, being appointed assistant Engineer there by Governor George Eliott in 1779. In 1781, he joined Colonel James Francis Erskine in trying to raise a battalion of Swiss Chasseurs for service with the East India Company. The venture was stopped by the Swiss authorities with Augustus and fellow officers being jailed for several months. In 1785, he was engineer for another thwarted venture with Erskine to assist the Polish adventurer Count Maurice Benyovszky found a settlement in Madagascar.

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