Edward Charles Close
Edward Charles Close (Senior) (12 March 1790 – 7 May 1866) was a British soldier, engineer, New South Wales colonial magistrate, member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, and early European settler in Morpeth. He was born at Rangamati, British India (in what is now Bangladesh) and was the only child of merchant Edward and Marianne Collinson, daughter of Michael Collinson. He accompanied his mother to England when she went there following his father's death. They settled with Marianne's brother Charles Streynsham Collinson on his estate at the Chantry, Ipswich. Enlisted in the army in  1808, he served in the Peninsular War as lieutenant in the 48th Regiment. He arrived in New South Wales on the 3rd of August 1817 on the Matilda. Close was transferred to Newcastle where he was acting engineer from 1821 to 1822. On 27 September 1821 at St John's Church, Parramatta he married Sophia Sussannah. In 1822 he resigned from the army to settle in a 2,560 acre property in Morpeth. Close's son, Edward Charles Close junior, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.