1657 with two bundles of ‘Killing no Murder’ under his arms [see Sexby, Edward, and Sindercombe, Miles]. For this he was committed to the Tower, where he remained till February 1659 (Thurloe, vi. 311, 317; Rawlinson MS. A lvii. 413). At the Restoration he was appointed one of the messengers of the court of exchequer (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1660–1, p. 104). In October 1662 he petitioned for leave to resign his place to Thomas Benbow, on the ground of bodily infirmity (ib. 1661–2, p. 513). Sturgion was the author of ‘A Plea for Toleration of Opinions and Persuasions in Matters of Religion differing from the Church of England’ (4to, 1661). It is addressed to Charles II, consists largely of extracts from Jeremy Taylor's ‘Liberty of Prophesying,’ and is reprinted in ‘Tracts on Liberty of Conscience,’ edited by E. B. Underhill for the Hanserd Knollys Society in 1846 (p. 312).
[Authorities mentioned in the article.]
STURT, CHARLES (1795–1869), Australian explorer, was born on 28 April 1795 in the Bengal Presidency, where his father, Thomas Lenox Napier Sturt, of an old Dorset family, was a puisne judge in the East India Company's service. His mother, Jannette, daughter of Dr. Andrew Wilson, was descended from the border families of Scott, Kerr, and Elliott. Educated first at Astbury in Cheshire, and later at Harrow, and with a Mr. Preston near Cambridge, Sturt obtained a commission as ensign in the 39th regiment on 9 Sept. 1813. In February 1814 he joined the 1st battalion of the 39th regiment, then serving in the second army corps under Sir Rowland Hill (Viscount Hill) in the Pyrenees, and fought at Garris, at the passages of the Gaves, at Orthes, Garin, Aire, and Toulouse. Later in that year he saw service in Canada during Sir George Prevost's operations at Chazy and on Lake Champlain. Returning to Europe on Bonaparte's escape from Elba in 1815, Sturt with his regiment entered Paris, and remained for a time with the army of occupation in the north of France. From 1819 to 1826 he served in Ireland, and took an active part in some stirring episodes during the ‘Whiteboy’ riots. He became lieutenant on 7 April 1825, and captain on 15 Dec. 1825. In command of a detachment of his regiment he arrived at Sydney in May 1827. There he was appointed to the staff of Sir Ralph Darling [q. v.], governor of New South Wales, as military secretary and brigade-major, acting also for a time as Darling's private secretary.
Between November 1828 and April 1829, in command of a government party of eight men, and accompanied by Alexander Hamilton Hume [q. v.], Sturt thoroughly examined the hitherto impenetrable marshes of the Macquarie, and, after forcing a way through them and crossing vast plains, discovered the Darling. Though the saltness of this river at several distant points after a long drought checked further advance, Sturt proved that it received those westward streams from the Blue Mountains (the Macquarie, Castlereagh, and Bogan), whose destination had hitherto been undetermined. According to Arrowsmith, he at this time explored 1,272 miles. In November 1829, accompanied by George (afterwards Sir George) Macleay [q. v.], Sturt led an expedition, for further investigation of the Darling, along the unknown course of the Murrumbidgee, till stopped by vast reed-beds. Here a depôt was formed, and two boats were built, in one of which Sturt and Macleay, with six men, embarked. The other was soon swamped on sunken rocks, and with it were lost all provisions except flour, tea, and sugar. Five days of risky navigation through a narrowing channel brought the party to a broad river, named by Sturt the Murray. Its parent stream was later identified with the Hume, so named by Hume when discovered and crossed by him in 1824 at a point three hundred miles higher up. But to Sturt the Murray river solved the problem of the whole south-eastern water system. So clearly did he read its meaning that on presently reaching the junction of another river he rightly assumed that to be the Darling. Thirty-three days after entering the Murray he crossed Lake Alexandrina, and found its outlet to the sea impracticable. A survey of the coast dispelled all hope that some vessel might be on the look-out, and want of provisions forbade him to explore the fine region now in view. Notwithstanding the adverse current and rapids and the dangers from hostile tribes, Sturt and his seven companions spent on the desperate return voyage only seven days more than had been occupied by their downstream course. Each man had to subsist on a daily pound of flour and a weekly quarter-pound of tea. Sturt and Macleay shared fully in every peril and privation, toiling at the oar from dawn to nightfall. They reached the depôt late in April 1830, all in very weak condition; Sturt was nearly blind. Arrowsmith computes the distance explored, to and along the Murrumbidgee and down the Murray to the lake, at 1,950 miles, and considers that by the opening up of these rivers and of their junction with the Darling
