Sir Charles Justin MacCarthy (1811–1864) was the 12th

Governor of British Ceylon The governor of Ceylon was the representative in Ceylon of the British Crown from 1795 to 1948. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in Ceylon. The governor was th ...

and the 12th Accountant General and Controller of Revenue. He was appointed on 22 October 1860 and was Governor until 1 December 1863. He also served as acting governor on two separate occasions. He was first appointed in 1850.

Life

His parents were Donough and Mary MacCarthy, and he was born in Brighton. He was a relation of

Nicholas Wiseman Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (3 August 1802 – 15 February 1865) was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church who became the first Archbishop of Westminster upon the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1850. Born ...

, and in the early 1830s was in Rome, with a view to entering the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

priesthood. Under the influence of the ideas of Lamennais, however, he ceased theological studies. In Rome through Wiseman he met

Monckton Milnes Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton, FRS (19 June 1809 – 11 August 1885) was an English poet, patron of literature and a politician who strongly supported social justice. Background and education Milnes was born in London, the son of ...

, who became a lifelong friend. Milnes then helped him into a colonial career. MacCarthy was knighted in 1857. In office he adopted a policy of financial retrenchment. His main aim was to promote railway construction. He left Ceylon in December 1863, in poor health. He died at

Spa, Belgium Spa (; wa, Spå) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium, whose name became an eponym for mineral baths with supposed curative properties. It is situated in a valley in the Ardennes mountains south ...

on 15 August 1864.

Family

MacCarthy married in 1848 Sophia Brunel Hawes, botanist and eldest daughter of

Sir Benjamin Hawes Sir Benjamin Hawes (1797 – 15 May 1862) was a British Whig politician. Early life He was a grandson of William Hawes, founder of the Royal Humane Society, and son of Benjamin Hawes of New Barge House, Lambeth, who was a businessman and Fello ...

. They had a son, Charles Philip.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacCarthy, Charles Justin 1811 births 1864 deaths Auditors General of Sri Lanka Governors of British Ceylon British expatriates in Sri Lanka 19th-century British people Chief Secretaries of Ceylon British colonial governors and administrators in Asia