Captured examples of the defeated Tippoo's rockets were sent back to England, where artillery experts under the "father of Englsh rocketry" John Congreve, rapidly develped improved versions as a new weapon for the British Army.

With £1,300 of prize money, Macquarie returned to Bombay, where, at the age of 40, his promotion to full Major was confirmed, and in March 1801 he was appointed deputy-adjutant-general attached to the 86^th Regiment under Major General David Baird, part of a force being sent to Egypt to expel the French.  The Army saw little action, but in Alexnadria Macquarie met his brother Charles, who was also a serving Army officer.  They discussed future plans for purchasing land on the Isle of Mull.

On 11^th February 1802 Macquarie became a Major with the 86^th Regiment, and returned to England in May of the following year to attend to financial matters and to enjoy the social whirl of London after so many years abroad.  He was twice presented to the King and Queen, dined with the aristocracy, had his portrait painted by John Opie; "reckoned by everone who has seen it very like me", made valuable contacts among the higher echelons of the Army, and attended balls and the theatre.  All seemed rosy - until an unexpected letter arrived from the War Office.

Macquarie by Opie

By 1802, Macquarie's young nephew, Hector had become a nominal Lieutenant on the Reserve List of the 40^th Regiment; but in 1803, he and John Maclaine were suddenly placed on full pay by the War Office and required to report for military duty immediately!  Macquarie was desperate to disguise the true ages of the boys, as well as to mislead Army officials of their real whereabouts.  Initially he resorted to the fiction of claiming that Ensigns Macquarie and Maclaine had left for the West Indies to become settlers.  However, when advised that if they did not return within six months they would lose their commissions, Macquarie hastily claimed that both of them had now returned to Scotland and were happy to remain on half pay in the Reserves to attend a military academy for 18 months.

Hoping that his ruse would pacify the War Office for a time, Macquarie finally set off for Scotland to visit family and friends.  He was in time to visit his patron, the Laird of Lochbye, on his deathbed in July 1804, and then carried the sad news to his mother, the sister of the Laird.  It was the first time he had seen her since leaving for the Army in 1787, an emotional reunion "more easy to conceive than to describe".  After the Laird's funeral, Macquarie and Charles rode to visit the area around Callachilly, the site of his chosen estate. That evening, family and friends gathered in the Callachilly Inn to toast him as he named the estate Jarvisfield: "out of grateful respect and sincere affection for the beloved and revered memory of my late angelic wife (Jane Jarvis)".

In Autumn, he visited his mother to take his leave and ensure that her situation was "more comfortable as well as more respectable" before he made his return to London.  For part of the way, he travelled with his aunt's sister, Miss Elizabeth Campbell of Airds, whom he had met briefly at Lochbye the previous June, where he had been "introduced to this very amiable young lady by her sister".  Although she was 17 years his junior, Macquarie was impressed by Elizabeth, writing in his diary: "What a most excellent soldier's wife she would make; and happy - to my mind - will that man be whose good fortune it may happen to be to get her".

But in London, disaster had struck.  A secret informant in Scotland had advised the War Office that Hector Macquarie was, in fact, only 10 years old.  After a full inquiry, both boys' commissions were forfeited (without compensation), and Macquarie was severely reprimanded.  He was, in fact, extremely fortunate not to have been dismissed from the Army, but the incident had damaged his credibility with senior Army staff and, in January 1805, he was curtly ordered to return to India.

This changed Macquarie's plans completely.  In March, while making preparations to leave, he proposed to Elizabeth at her aunt's house in London, but made it clear that they could not marry until after his return from India - probably in four years time - as he had vowed on the death of his first wife to "never marry again in India, nor bring another spouse to that land of death".  To his delight, Elizabeth accepted him and his conditions with notable candour".

They exchanged locks of hair and, on April 25^th, Macquarie and his Cochin slave-boy, George, sailed on the City of London, arriving in Bombay some three months later.  He had orders to rejoin the 86^th Regiment, rather than his old Regiment the 77^th so he reluctantly outlaid "the enormous sum of £650" for new uniforms and expenses. But in London his Commander in Chief, the Duke of York, apparently considering Macquarie sufficiently punished, now promoted him to Lt. Colonel and appointed him as commander of the 73^rd Regiment; news which "agreeably surprised" Macquarie - as well it might!

The 73^rd Regiment had recently returned to Scotland after 27 years in India but, although the way was now open for Macquarie to return to home far earlier than he had hoped, he felt honour-bound to serve with the 86^th Regiment for a time. He trained a detachment at Dohud for a possible campaign against Maharaja Holkar, but, in the end, both parties signed an amicable peace treaty in Xmas Eve, 1805.  It was to be Macquarie's last taste of field service, and he spent his final few months in India settling his affairs and paying a last visit to Jane's tomb, which had been whitewashed and restored to "the same state as it was in originally".

He sailed from Bombay on 19^th March 1807, carrying urgent dispatches to the Courts of Directors of the East India Company in London.  Alighting at Basra on the Persian Gulf (present day Iraq), Macquarie travelled up the Tigris to Baghdad, then overland to Baku and St Petersburg in Russia and on to Copenhagen, from where he sailed to London; arriving on the 17^th October 1807.

Two weeks later, on 3^rd November he married his Elizabeth at Holsworthy in Devon.  In September 1808 their first child, a daughter named Jane Jarvis after the first Mrs Macquarie, was born, but she died in December the same year.