• Fifteenth Governor of New South Wales.

• Born in England.

• Appointed Governor and Commander in Chief of New South Wales and its dependencies.

• Saw his main task as being the communications link between the colony and the Colonial Office. He wrote on subjects ranging from prisons to sewerage but took care to seek advice from London on every contentious issue and on inter-colonial relations.

• The Parkes-Robertson coalition was in office when he arrived and it lasted until 1883. He tried to limit the days on which he signed documents but Parkes claimed that such a personal direction to the permanent heads of departments would overrule ministerial authority.

• In one crisis between the two Houses he persuaded Parkes to wait for the Colonial Office’s advice; when the Upper House insisted on amending the bill Loftus talked to individual councillors and persuaded them to agree.

• He supported Federation as he feared external attack or internal crisis but he remained an imperial federationist.

• By 1885 the Governor could still refuse to appoint nominees and make independent appointments to the Legislative Council – although this rarely occurred.

• He left Sydney in 1885.

• He died in 1904 in England.

N.I . Graham, "The Role of the Governors of New South Wales under responsible government 1861-1890" (Ph.D. thesis, Macquarie University, 1973) in Australian Dictionary of Biography.