Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle (30 September 1791 – 3 November 1847) was an officer of the

British army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

active in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

Life

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle was the son of Professor

John Bonnycastle John Bonnycastle (baptized 29 December 1751 in Hardwick or Whitchurch, England – 15 May 1821 in Woolwich, England) was an English teacher of mathematics and author. Life John Bonnycastle was born in Buckinghamshire, in about 1750. Nothing ...

, and was born in 1791. He studied at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

, as a cadet, and passed out as a second lieutenant of the royal engineers 28 September 1808, becoming a first lieutenant in the following year. He served at the siege of

Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushing ...

in 1809, and in the American campaigns of 1812–14, during which he was present at the capture of Fort Castine, and the occupation of the part of the state of Maine east of the

Penobscot The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic pr ...

, and was commanding engineer at the construction of the extensive works thrown up by the British on the Castine peninsula. He attained the rank of captain in 1814, in which year he married the daughter of Captain W. Johnstone. Subsequently, he served with the army of occupation in France. As commanding royal engineer in Upper Canada, he rendered very important services during the Canadian rebellion in 1837–39, particularly in February 1838, when, at the head of a force of militia and volunteers, in the absence of regular troops, he defeated the designs of the insurgents at

Napanee Greater Napanee is a town in Eastern Ontario, southeastern Ontario, Canada, approximately west of Kingston, Ontario, Kingston and the county seat of Lennox and Addington County. It is located on the eastern end of the Bay of Quinte. Greater Nap ...

, and the brigands at

Hickory Island Hickory Island is an inhabited island in the Detroit River. It is in Wayne County, in southeast Michigan. Its coordinates are , and the United States Geological Survey gave its elevation as in 1980. Hickory Island is one of fifteen islands th ...

, for an attack on the city of Kingston. For these services he was knighted. In his capacity as a

military engineer Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics b ...

, Bonnycastle oversaw the fortification of Fort Henry in modern

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He was afterwards commanding engineer in Newfoundland. He became a brevet-major in 1837, a regimental lieutenant-colonel in 1840, and retired from the service in 1847. He died in 1848.

Family

Through his son,

Henry William John Bonnycastle Henry may refer to: People * Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal ...

(1813–1888) would come a prominent

Bonnycastle family The Bonnycastle family of Canada include: * Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle (1791-1847), British soldier * Henry William John Bonnycastle (1813-1888), lawyer, militiaman, farmer, councillor, artist * Angus Bonnycastle (1873-1941), lawyer, politici ...

of Canadian politicians and adventurers and the founder of

Harlequin Enterprises Harlequin Enterprises ULC (known simply as Harlequin) is a romance and women's fiction publisher founded in Winnipeg, Canada in 1949. From the 1960s, it grew into the largest publisher of romance fiction in the world. Based in Toronto, Canada si ...

, the world's largest publisher of

romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...

Works

* Richard Henry Bonnycastle (1849). ''Canada and the Canadians, Volume I''. London. * Richard Henry Bonnycastle (1849). ''Canada and the Canadians, Volume II''. London.

Notes

References

* *

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnycastle, Richard Henry

Richard Henry Bonnycastle Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle (30 September 1791 – 3 November 1847) was an officer of the British army active in Upper Canada. Life Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle was the son of Professor John Bonnycast ...

1791 births 1847 deaths Royal Engineers officers English emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario People from Kingston, Ontario Immigrants to Upper Canada