Wentworth, D'Arcy (1762–1827), surgeon and colonial administrator, was born 14 February 1762 near Portadown, Co. Armagh, the sixth of eight children of D'Arcy Wentworth, innkeeper, and his wife Martha (née Dickson/Dixon) of Seagoe, Co. Armagh. His family, who were descended from settlers from Yorkshire who came to Ireland in the mid sixteenth century, claimed connection to the earl of Strafford and the barons Fitzwilliam. As a young man he served as an ensign in the first Armagh company of the Irish Volunteers under the command of Lord Charlemont (qv) but, deciding on a medical career, he became apprenticed to Dr Alexander Patton of Tanderagee.
He moved to London (1787), where he contacted his kinsman, Lord Fitzwilliam (qv), and was soon moving in the best circles. His income as a young surgeon was quite modest, however, and his social aspirations far exceeded his means. He was soon deeply in debt and turned to highway robbery in order to make ends meet. In December 1787 he appeared at the Old Bailey on three separate occasions charged with highway robbery; he was found not guilty on two occasions, and on the third was acquitted owing to lack of evidence. He was brought to court on charges of highway robbery again in December 1789 but was found not guilty on this occasion also. Perhaps realising that his luck would eventually run out if he continued in these habits, he secured an appointment as a surgeon with the convict fleet bound for Botany Bay and arrived at Port Jackson in June 1790.
He moved in August 1790 to Norfolk Island, where he took up an appointment as assistant surgeon at the convict hospital, later serving as medical superintendent (1791–6). In 1796 he was appointed assistant surgeon to the colony in New South Wales, basing himself in Sydney. His relations with various governors were generally good and he would later act as physician to Governor Lachlan Macquarie. In 1808, however, he was court-martialled by Governor William Bligh for using the labour of sick convicts for his own advantage. He was found guilty and suspended, but used his family influence to secure his reinstatement; Lord Castlereagh (qv) actually wrote to Bligh to reprimand him for his behaviour. He was a prominent member of the group that eventually secured Bligh's removal.
He continued to carry out duties at the hospitals in Sydney, at Parramatta, and on Norfolk Island and, in 1809 he was appointed as principal surgeon of the New South Wales civil medical department, this appointment being confirmed in July 1811. Alongside these medical posts, he held several other important appointments in the administration of the new colony. In 1810 he was appointed as a JP and made chief police magistrate for Sydney. He also served as a commissioner of the Sydney–Parramatta turnpike road (1810), and later as superintendent of the Sydney police (1815–20). He sat on a committee inquiring into the high mortality rate among convicts aboard the General Hewitt (1814) and also on a committee investigating the shooting of convicts aboard the Chapman (1817). In 1820 he was made treasurer of the police fund and, after a period of ill health, resumed his duties as superintendent of police in 1821. He later served as treasurer of the colonial revenue (1821–5).
Like many of the early colonists, Wentworth also became involved in various business ventures and he was one of the instigators of the so-called ‘rum hospital’ in Sydney. Under the terms of an agreement with Governor Macquarie, Wentworth and his partners were granted a concession and became the sole importers of liquor into the colony for four years. They, in turn, agreed to build and equip a hospital. He was one of the founding members of the Bank of New South Wales in 1816 and cultivated good relations with successive governors, being awarded grants of land for his services in the colony. By the time of his death, he had accumulated over 22,000 acres of land in New South Wales. An advocate of introducing the jury system to New South Wales, he was also an early supporter of the concept of a colonial legislature. In failing health, he retired from all his public offices in 1825 but was a member of the St Patrick's day commemoration committee in 1827, the first of its kind in New South Wales. He died 2 July 1827 at Home Bush, Parramatta, and was buried in Parramatta cemetery. It was reported that his funeral procession was over a mile long.
Wentworth and Catherine Crowley (1772–1800), who was sentenced to seven years transportation at the Staffordshire assizes in July 1788 for stealing clothes, had three sons and a daughter: William Charles Wentworth (1790–1882), explorer and Australian statesman; Maj. D'Arcy Wentworth; Midshipman John Wentworth, who was drowned in 1820; and Martha, who died in infancy. In later life D'Arcy had relationships with Maria Ainslie and Anne Lawes and fathered at least seven more children, all of whom were provided for under the terms of his will.