Henry Amsinck
{{Short description|Irish naval officer and Australian Politician (1799–1878)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name =
| honorific-suffix =
| image = Henry Amsinck.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = c. 1798
| birth_place = London, England
| death_date = 19 December 1878
| death_place = Fitzroy, Victoria
| restingplace = Melbourne General Cemetery
| restingplacecoordinates =
| birthname =
| citizenship =
| nationality =
| party =
| mother =
| father =
| otherparty =
| spouse = Charlotte Elizabeth
| partner =
| relations =
| children =
| residence =
| alma_mater =
| occupation =
| profession =
| cabinet =
| committees =
| office1 =
| term_start1 =
| term_end1 =
| predecessor1 =
| successor1 =
| constituency_AM5 = Electoral district of West Bourke
| assembly5 = Victorian Legislative
| term_start5 = October 1859
| term_end5 = July 1861
| predecessor5 = Patrick Phelan
Joseph Wilkie
| alongside5 = John Carre Riddell
Mark Last King
| successor5 = John Smith
Charles MacMahon
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Henry Amsinck (c. 1798 – 19 December 1878) was an Australian politician and an Irish commander in the Royal Navy.
Career
Amsinck entered the Royal Navy on 6 September 1811 as a first-class volunteer on board the HMS Niemen under Captain Sir Michael Seymour. He later transferred aboard the {{HMS|Hannibal (1810)}}, where he served as a midshipman. On 26 March 1814, while aboard the Hannibal, Amsinck participated in the capture of La Sultane, a French frigate armed with 44 guns and manned by 330 men. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 20 January 1824 and returned to England in May 1824 on half-pay.{{Cite NBD1849 |wstitle= Amsinck, Henry |volume= 2.8 |last= O'Byrne|first= William Richard |author-link= William Richard O'Byrne| page= 13 |year=1849 |short=1}}
Amsinck served as secretary of the British railway commission between 1839 and 1841 before arriving to Melbourne in 1853 as an agent for a dock and railway company. He later worked as a mining speculator, and then as secretary of the Board of Visitors and the Melbourne Observatory.{{cite book |last1=Serle |first1=Geoffrey |last2=Thomson |first2=Kathleen |author1-link=Geoffrey Serle |title=A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament 1859-1900 |date=1972 |publisher=Australian National University Press |location=Canberra |isbn=0 7081 0739 7 |pages=2-3 |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstreams/d6a15900-1e01-4cfb-b77f-12e393a81319/download |access-date=11 December 2024}}
In 1857, Amsinck unsuccessfully contested the seats of West Bourke and Rodney. He eventually won an election, serving as a member in the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the electoral district of West Bourke between 1859 and 1861.{{Cite Parliament of Victoria Member Profile|name=Henry Amsinck|id=henry-amsinck|access-date=25 November 2024}} Later, in 1867, Amsinck unsuccessfully contested the electoral district of Maldon.
In 1864, Amsinck was promoted to commander in the Royal Navy.
Personal life
On 4 January 1827, Amsinck married Charlotte Elizabeth ({{née}} Wilson), the youngest sibling and only sister of Sir Archdale Wilson.{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Bernard |author1-link=Bernard Burke |title=A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire |date=1868 |publisher=Harrison and Sons |location=London |access-date=11 December 2024 |language=en|volume=30|series=Burke's Peerage|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.aa0009295460&seq=7|via=HathiTrust}} Their son, Eugene C. Amsinck, worked as a journalist for The Herald, and then for The Argus covering the Maori War.{{cite news |title=Personal Items |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-691067474/view?sectionId=nla.obj-705580629&partId=nla.obj-691159572#page/n17/mode/1up |access-date=11 December 2024 |work=The Bulletin|volume=28 |issue=1420 |date=2 May 1907 |location=Sydney |page=16 |language=en-AU |via=Trove}}
Reference list
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amsinck, Henry}}
Category:Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
Category:19th-century Royal Navy personnel
{{Australia-politician-stub}}