Four years after unravelling the mystery surrounding an unusual antique hand-written manuscript, Emeritus Professor Ken Dutton has written a biography on one of the authors - prominent pioneer settler and Queensland parliamentary official Lieutenant Colonel Charles Gray.

In 2006, Professor Dutton identified a manuscript with French military writings as belonging to General Francois Jarry, a leading French general of the Napoleonic era. When turned upside down and opened at the other end, the manuscript contains the English diary of Lieutenant Colonel Gray.

Lieutenant Colonel Gray was born in Edinburgh in 1786 and fought in the Waterloo Campaign against Napoleon before settling in Port Macquarie. He went on to become the Police Magistrate at Ipswich, Queensland's first Parliamentary Librarian and Usher of the Black Rod.

Professor Dutton worked with Lieutenant Colonel Gray's great great granddaughters to research the biography - That Gallant Gentleman. He will travel to Queensland next week for the official launch of That Gallant Gentleman at Parliament House, Brisbane.

Research for That Gallant Gentleman was made possible by a grant from the University of Newcastle's Hartley Bequest. It is published by Central Queensland University Press.