The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/De Quincey, Lieut.-Col. Paul Frederick
De Quincey, Lieut.-Col. Paul Frederick, son of Thomas de Quincey, the great English writer, was born at Grasmere, Westmoreland, on Nov. 26th, 1828, and was educated at the High School, Edinburgh, and at the Lasswade School, near that city. He entered the army in 1845 as ensign in the 70th Regiment, and served with distinction in India from 1846 to 1860, when, having become successively captain and major of brigade on the permanent staff of the Bengal Presidency, he was ordered with his old regiment, which he had rejoined after serving with several others, for active service in New Zealand. Colonel de Quincey arrived in that colony in May 1861, served there for a time, commanded the 1st Company Transport Corps, and then rejoined his regiment; but seeing no prospect of returning to India without sacrificing his position, sold out, and turned his attention to farming, with the unsatisfactory results usually experienced by military men. In 1863, the war breaking out, and the Auckland Militia being called out for active service, he was appointed to the command of the left wing of the 3rd Battalion Artillery, with a captain's commission and without pay, and embodied it on those terms. Major-General Galloway, under whom he had served in India, on being appointed to the command of the colonial forces selected Captain de Quincey as his military secretary, to which appointment he was gazetted with the rank of major, and soon afterwards he was gazetted to a lieutenant-colonelcy. On General Galloway leaving the colony in 1864, he was succeeded in the command by Colonel Haultain, Lieut.-Col. de Quincey continuing as military secretary. Subsequent to the termination of the war in the Auckland province, he lived principally in the country till the year 1889, when, the office of Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives having become vacant, the appointment was conferred on him by the Speaker.