Sir Charles Henry Darling (19 February 1809 – 25 January 1870) was a British colonial governor.

Biography

He was born at

Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal, formerly known as Port Royal, is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Today's Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be confused with the ne ...

, Nova Scotia, the son of Major-General

Henry Darling Major-General Henry Charles Darling (Uppingham, 28 February 1780 – 11 February 1845) was a Major General in the British Army and served as Lieutenant Governor of Tobago (1833–45). Darling served with the Army in Annapolis Royal in the Colony ...

and nephew of General Sir

Ralph Darling General Sir Ralph Darling, GCH (1772 – 2 April 1858) was a British Army officer who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831. He is popularly described as a tyrant, accused of torturing prisoners and banning theatrical entertain ...

. He was educated at the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infant ...

, and served in the garrisons of

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estima ...

, the

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean Sea No ...

, and

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

, with the

57th Foot The 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot was a regiment of line infantry in the British Army, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot to form the Middlesex Regiment in 1881. Hi ...

. He went to New South Wales in 1827 with this regiment, and served as assistant private secretary to the

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the A ...

, to his uncle

. He served in the

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were colonized British territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grena ...

from 1833 until he retired from the army in 1841 and settled in

. He started his colonial service while in Jamaica, during which time he often clashed with leaders of the

free people of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...

who were elected to the island's Assembly, such as

Robert Osborn (Jamaica) Robert Osborn (1800–1878) was a Jamaican newspaper editor and campaigner for equal rights for free people of color. Campaigner for equal rights Robert was born on 5 April 1800, the son of Kean Osborn, a white Jamaican planter of Scottish descen ...

. He became Lieutenant-Governor of St. Lucia in 1847, and he became Lieutenant-Governor of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with ...

in South Africa in 1851. A town in South Africa, on the West Coast of the country was named after Darling. He became Governor of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

in 1855. Darling supported the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

suggestions granting the French more fishing rights in waters of

between

Cape St. John Cape St. John is a headland located on the north coast of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Cape St. John forms the northeastern point of the Baie Verte Peninsula and has a high prominent peak with steep cliffs r ...

and Cape Ray to the total disagreement of the Newfoundland government which ultimately led to the end of his term in office. Darling became governor and captain-chief of Jamaica in 1857 then governor of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia from 1863 to 1866. His first marriage was on 2 May 1835 to Anne Wilhelmina Dalzell (18 July 1813 – 16 October 1837). They had a son who died in infancy. Anne came from a wealthy family, who owned a plantation in

. Through Anne's will, Darling would have received some money, although she died before her mother who had owned the slaves. He was then married, at Christ Church, Barbados, on 14 December 1839 to Mary Ann Nurse (who died of yellow fever in St Lucia on 6 November 1848). His third marriage, at

Ilfracombe Ilfracombe ( ) is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England, with a small harbour surrounded by cliffs. The parish stretches along the coast from the 'Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and along t ...

, North Devon, was on 10 December 1851 to Elizabeth Isabella Caroline Salter ( 1820 – 10 December 1900). Charles Henry Darling died at

Lansdown Crescent, Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral ...

, Gloucestershire, aged 60.

Legacy

Darling Street in the

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vi ...

south suburb of

Redan Redan (a French word for "projection", "salient") is a feature of fortifications. It is a work in a V-shaped salient angle towards an expected attack. It can be made from earthworks or other material. The redan developed from the lunette, o ...

is named for him.City of Ballarat, 5 January 2012. ''Roads and Open Space Index'', pg.14, Ballarat: City of Ballarat

References

External links

Biography at Government House ''The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador''Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Charles Henry 1809 births 1870 deaths Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst 57th Regiment of Foot officers Governors of Barbados Governors of Newfoundland Colony Governors of Victoria (Australia) Governors of Jamaica Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Colony of Victoria people Governors of the Cape Colony Governors of British Saint Lucia 19th-century Australian politicians

Biography

Legacy

See also

References

External links