General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry.
In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...
Charles Murray Cathcart, 2nd Earl Cathcart (21 December 1783 – 16 July 1859), styled Lord Greenock between 1814 and 1843, was a
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
general who became
Governor General of the Province of Canada
The Governor General of the Province of Canada was the viceregal post of the pre-Confederation Province of Canada that existed from 1841 to Canadian Confederation in 1867.
The post replaced the Governor General of New France and later Governor Ge ...
(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
The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...
.
Early life
Cathcart was born at
Walton,
Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, on 21 December 1783, the eldest surviving son of
William Cathcart, 10th Lord Cathcart (later the
1st Earl Cathcart).
Career
Cathcart entered the army as a
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...
in the
2nd Regiment of Life Guards
The 2nd Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 2nd Troop of Horse Guards and 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamate ...
on 2 March 1800.
He served on the staff of Sir
James Craig James or Jim Craig may refer to:
Entertainment
* James Humbert Craig (1877–1944), Irish painter
* James Craig (actor) (1912–1985), American actor
* James Craig (''General Hospital''), fictional character on television, a.k.a. Jerry Jacks
* J ...
in Naples and Sicily.
[ He became heir apparent to the lordship of Cathcart in 1804, after his brother William Cathcart, Master of Cathcart died while commanding a Royal Navy vessel in the West Indies.] After his father was elevated to an earldom in 1814 he became known by the courtesy title
A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but is rather used by custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title).
In some context ...
Lord Greenock.
Cathcart saw service on the ill-fated Walcheren Expedition
The Walcheren Campaign () was an unsuccessful British expedition to the Kingdom of Holland in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with France during the War of the Fifth Coalition. John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Ch ...
in 1809 and at the siege of Flushing
Flushing may refer to:
Places
Netherlands
* Flushing, Netherlands, an English name for the city of Vlissingen, Netherlands
United Kingdom
* Flushing, Cornwall, a village in Cornwall, England
* The Flushing, a building in Suffolk, England ...
, 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
The Battle of Barrosa (Chiclana, 5 March 1811, also known as the Battle of Chiclana or Battle of Cerro del Puerco) was part of an unsuccessful manoeuvre by an Anglo-Iberian force to break the French siege of Cádiz during the Peninsular War ...
, for which he received a gold medal
A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...
on 6 April 1812, at the Battle of Salamanca
The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of the Arapiles) took place on 22July 1812. An Anglo-Portuguese Army, Anglo-Portuguese army under the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Earl of Wellington (future ...
, and the Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria (21 June 1813), a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British, Kingdom of Portugal, Portuguese and Spanish Empire, Spanish army under the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Marquess of Wellington bro ...
, during which he served as assistant quartermaster-general.[
He was next sent to assist Sir ]Thomas Graham Thomas Graham may refer to:
Politicians and diplomats
*Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch (1748–1843), British politician and soldier
* Thomas Graham Jr. (diplomat) (born 1933), nuclear expert and senior U.S. diplomat
*Sir Thomas Graham (barriste ...
in Holland as the head of the quartermaster-general's staff and was present at the ill-fated Siege of Bergen op Zoom in March 1814. Thereafter he was present at the Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...
, where he had three horses shot from under him.[ He was awarded the Russian ]Order of St. Vladimir
The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir () was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of the Kievan Rus'.
Grades
The order had four ...
, the Dutch Military William Order
The Military William Order, or often named Military Order of William ( Dutch: , abbreviation: MWO), is the oldest and highest honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is named after St. William of Gellone (755–814), the first Prince of Ora ...
, and made a Companion of the Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...
(CB). In 1823, he was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the royal staff corps at Hythe
Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to:
Places Australia
* Hythe, Tasmania
Canada
*Hythe, Alberta, a hamlet in Canada
England
*The ...
.[
In 1830 he moved to ]Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
where lived at "Whitehouse villa" on Bruntsfield Links
Bruntsfield Links is of open parkland in Bruntsfield, Edinburgh, immediately to the south-west of the adjoining Meadows.
Unlike The Meadows, which formerly contained a loch drained by the end of the 18th century, Bruntsfield Links has always ...
. He became involved in the proceedings of the Highland Society, became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...
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
Port Glasgow (, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most recent census in 2011 s ...
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 1855 he retired.[
]
Family
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. His daughter Elizabeth married General Sir John Douglas.Chronicles of the Plumsted Family
Eugene Devereux, Philadelphia, 1887, p. 48-50
Cathcart died at St. Leonard's-on-Sea on 16 July 1859. His wife died on 24 June 1872.
Publications
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.''
References
Sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cathcart, Charles Cathcart, 2nd Earl
11th Hussars officers
1783 births
1859 deaths
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