Charles Cathcart, 2nd Earl Cathcart
The Earl Cathcart | |
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Lord Cathcart.
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Born | 21 December 1783 Walton, Essex, England |
Died | 16 July 1859 St Leonards-on-Sea, England |
(aged 75)
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | British Army |
Rank | General |
Battles/wars | Napoleonic Wars Walcheren Expedition Battle of Waterloo |
Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath |
Charles Murray Cathcart, 2nd Earl Cathcart GCB FRSE (Walton-on-the-Naze 21 December 1783 – 16 July 1859 St Leonards-on-Sea), styled Lord Greenock between 1814 and 1843, was a British Army general who became Governor General of the Province of Canada and Lieutenant Governor of Canada West (26 November 1845 – 30 January 1847). He was a keen amateur geologist, with enough recognition to warrant being made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[1]
Life[edit]
Cathcart, eldest surviving son of William Schaw Cathcart, 1st Earl Cathcart, was born at Walton, Essex, on 21 December 1783, entered the army as a cornet in the 2nd life guards on 2 March 1800.[2] He served on the staff of Sir James Craig in Naples and Sicily.[2] He became heir apparent to the lordship of Cathcart in 1804 earldom after his brother William Cathcart, Master of Cathcart, died while commanding a Royal Navy vessel in the West Indies.[3] After his father was elevated to an earldom in 1814 he became known by the courtesy title Lord Greenock.
Cathcart saw service in the Walcheren Expedition in 1809 and the siege of Flushing, after which for some time he was disabled by the injurious effects of the pestilence which cut off so many thousands of his companions. Becoming lieutenant-colonel on 30 August 1810, he embarked for the Peninsula, where he was present at the Battle of Barrosa, for which he received a gold medal on 6 April 1812, at the Battle of Salamanca, and the Battle of Vitoria, during which he served as assistant quartermaster-general.[2]
He was next sent to assist Lord Lynedoch in Holland as the head of the quartermaster-general's staff, and was afterwards present at the Battle of Waterloo, where he had three horses shot under him.[2] He was awarded the Russian order of St. Wladimir, the Dutch order of St. Wilhelm, and the CB. In 1823 he was appointed a lieutenant-colonel in the royal staff corps at Hythe.[2]
In 1830 he moved to Edinburgh where lived at "Whitehouse villa" on Bruntsfield Links.[4] He became involved in the proceedings of the Highland Society, became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and where he announced the discovery of a new mineral, a sulphide of cadmium, which was found in excavating the Bishopton tunnel near Port Glasgow and which is now known as Greenockite. On 17 February 1837 he was made Commander-in-Chief, Scotland and Governor of Edinburgh Castle. On 17 June 1838, on the death of his father, he became second earl and eleventh baron Cathcart. On 16 March 1846 he was appointed commander-in-chief in British North America from 16 March 1846 and in 1850 he was appointed to the command of the Northern and Midland District, and in 1854 he retired.[2]
Family[edit]
On 30 September 1818 he married Henrietta Mather, daughter of Thomas Mather in France. The couple remarried at Portsea, England, 12 February 1819. Lady Cathcart accompanied her husband, and their daughters, to Canada in June, 1845. Lady Cathcart presented colours to one of the militia regiments in Montreal. The family returned to England in May, 1847. She died on 24 June 1872.[5] He died at St. Leonard's-on-Sea on 16 July 1859.[2]
Publications[edit]
He was the author of two papers in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1836, On the Phenomena in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh of the Igneous Rocks in their relation to the Secondary Strata, and The Coal Formation of the Scottish Lowlands.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.
- ^ a b c d e f g Charles Cathcart at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ John Knox Laughton, ed. (1902). Naval Miscellany Volume 1 20. Naval Record Society.
- ^ http://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/pageturner.cfm?id=83400507&mode=transcription
- ^ Morgan, Henry James Types of Canadian women and of women who are or have been connected with Canada : (Toronto, 1903) [1]
External links[edit]
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl Cathcart
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
Military offices | ||
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Preceded by Hon. Patrick Stuart |
Commander-in-Chief, Scotland 1837–1842 |
Succeeded by Sir Neil Douglas |
Preceded by Sir Arthur Clifton |
Colonel of the 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Hussars) 1842–1847 |
Succeeded by Sir Henry Wyndham |
Preceded by Sir Richard Downes Jackson |
Commander-in-Chief, North America 1846–1847 |
Succeeded by Sir Benjamin D'Urban |
Preceded by Francis Newbery |
Colonel of the 3rd (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards 1847–1851 |
Succeeded by James Claud Bourchier |
Preceded by Sir William Lumley |
Colonel of the 1st (King's) Dragoon Guards 1851–1859 |
Succeeded by Sir Thomas Brotherton |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by The Lord Metcalfe |
Governor General of the Province of Canada 1846–1847 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Elgin |
Academic offices | ||
Preceded by The Lord Metcalfe |
Chancellor of King's College 1846–1847 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Elgin |
Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
Preceded by William Cathcart |
Earl Cathcart 1843–1859 |
Succeeded by Alan Cathcart |
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- 1783 births
- 1859 deaths
- 1st King's Dragoon Guards officers
- 3rd Dragoon Guards officers
- 11th Hussars officers
- British Army generals
- British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
- Chancellors of the University of Toronto
- Governors General of the Province of Canada
- Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
- Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- People from Walton-on-the-Naze
- Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
- British Life Guards officers
- Royal Staff Corps officers
- People educated at Eton College
- British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars