Charles Murray Cathcart, 2nd Earl Cathcart

Wikipedia Biographical Summary

Charles Murray Cathcart, 2nd Earl Cathcart GCB (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).

Life

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.[1] He served on the staff of Sir James Craig in Naples and Sicily. 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. 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 in the battles of Barossa, for which he received a gold medal on 6 April 1812, of Salamanca, and of Vittoria, during which he served as assistant quartermaster-general.

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. 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.

In 1830 he moved to Edinburgh where he became involved in the proceedings of the Highland Society, chose to become a member of the Royal Society and where he announced the discovery of a new mineral, a sulphate 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 of the forces in 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.

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. She died on 24 June 1872. He died at St. Leonard's-on-Sea on 16 July 1859.

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.

Other References

• Biographical index of former fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783-2002, pt. 1. A-J, page 169