Alexander McArthur

Returning to Sydney the following year, McArthur worked as a shipping agent and profited greatly from gold exports.

[1] On 19 August 1853, McArthur married Maria Bowden, the daughter of William Binnington Boyce, in the Toxteth Park Chapel.

Living together at Strathmore, Glebe Point, they had two daughters and six sons,[1][2] the eldest of which was the British politician William Alexander McArthur.

[citation needed] After visiting England 1854–55, McArthur served on the Sydney Chamber of Commerce, as director of many building societies and insurance and mining companies, and as justice of the peace, and became a shareholder in the Australian Joint Stock Bank.

He was also treasurer of the Young Men's Christian Association of Sydney and a committee member of the Benevolent Asylum, the New South Wales Auxiliary Bible Society and other charities.

As an "advanced Liberal", his programme had much in common with Joseph Chamberlain's 'New Radicalism' and included the assimilation of the county to the borough franchise, reform of the land laws, abolition of clause 25 of the Education Act, and legislation against intemperance.