McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Cathcart, Charles Murray Cathcart, Earl, 1783-1859
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- Lord Greenock
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
21 December 1783 – 16 July 1859
History
Charles Murray Cathcart was a soldier in the British Army born on 21 December 1783 in Walton, Essex. He was the second oldest son of William Cathcart, 1st Earl Cathcart, and inherited the title in 1838 after the deaths of his older brother and father. He attended Eton and then joined the British Army in March 1800, serving in Holland, Naples and Sicily for his first few years. He went on to participate in a number of important campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars, including the Walcheren Campaign and the Battle of Waterloo. Cathcart rose in the ranks and won a number of distinctions: he became lieutenant colonel in 1810, and won a gold medal for his role in the Battle of Barrosa. He was also awarded Order of St. Vladimir, the Military William Order, and was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath for his service during the Battle of Waterloo. Cathcart was made Commander-in-Chief of Scotland and Glasgow on 17 February 1837, and served as Commander of the forces in British North America between 15 June 1845 and 13 May 1847, during which he resided in Montreal. He returned to the UK and became commander of the Northern and Midland District in 1850. Cathcart was made full general on 20 June 1854, and retired from active service.
Cathcart married Henrietta Mather on 30 September 1818 in France, and together they had 6 children. During his time in Canada, Cathcart became administrator of the Province of Canada (26 November 1845-24 April 1846) and then Governor General of the Province of Canada between 24 April 1846 and 30 January 1847. He did not pursue any further political positions. Cathcart was also an avid amateur geologist and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He authored papers on igneous rock and coal formation that appeared in the "Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh" in 1836. In 1841, Cathcart discovered greenockite, a mineral consisting of crystallized cadmium sulfide. He died on 16 July 1859 in East Sussex, England.