Charles Hastings Doyle

Sir Charles Hastings Doyle KCMG (10 April 1803[1] – 19 March 1883) was a British military officer who was the second Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia post Confederation and the first Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick.

General the Honourable Sir
Charles Hastings Doyle
KCMG
Colonial Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia
In office
17 September 1863 – 8 November 1865
MonarchVictoria
PremierJames W. Johnston
Charles Tupper
GovernorThe Viscount Monck
Preceded byGeorge Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby
Succeeded byRichard Graves MacDonnell
2nd Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia
In office
18 October 1867 – 1 May 1873
MonarchVictoria
Governors GeneralThe Viscount Monck
The Lord Lisgar
PremierHiram Blanchard
William Annand
Preceded bySir William Williams, 1st Baronet, of Kars
Succeeded byJoseph Howe
1st Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
In office
1 July 1867 – 18 October 1867
MonarchVictoria
Governor GeneralThe Viscount Monck
PremierPeter Mitchell
Andrew Rainsford Wetmore
Preceded byArthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore
Succeeded byFrancis Pym Harding
Personal details
Born(1803-04-10)10 April 1803
London, England
Died19 March 1883(1883-03-19) (aged 79)
London, England

Military career

Born in London, England, the eldest son of Lieutenant-General Sir Charles William Doyle and Sophia Cramer Coghill, he attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and joined the army as an ensign of the 24th (The 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot on 23 December 1819.[2] He was promoted to the ranks of lieutenant on 27 September 1822[3] and captain on 16 June 1825.[4] He received a brevet as major on 28 June 1838.[5] Rising through the ranks (Lieutenant Colonel in 1846,[6]), he reached major-general in 1860.[7] He was Colonel of the 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot from 1868 to 1870.[8]

Charles Hastings Doyle by Adolphus Robert Venables, Province House (Nova Scotia), Canada

After service in the Crimean War, he was stationed in Nova Scotia and, during the American Civil War, resolved the Chesapeake Affair, which took place in Halifax. He then countered the threat of the Fenian Raid on Canada's Maritime Provinces by ending the Campobello Island Raid. By April 1866 the menace of a Fenian invasion of New Brunswick was at its most serious, and Doyle quickly responded to Lieutenant Governor Gordon's request for military aid. On 17 April 1866, he left Halifax with Royal Navy warships carrying over 700 British regulars and proceeded to Passamaquoddy Bay, where the Fenian force was concentrated, under the command of John O'Mahony. This show of British armed might discouraged the Fenians, and the invaders dispersed.[9]

He was appointed the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick in 1867, the first Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick after Confederation. From 1867 to 1873, he was the second Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia post-Confederation. In 1869 he was appointed a Knight Commander of St Michael and St George,[10] and in 1870 he was promoted to lieutenant-general.[11] He became Commander of the British Troops in Canada in 1870[12] and general officer commanding Southern District in April 1874.[13] He was promoted full general in 1877.[14]

There is a full-length portrait of him by Adolphus Robert Venables in Province House (Nova Scotia). He is the namesake of Port Hastings, Nova Scotia.

See also

References
  1. Boase, Frederic (1892). Modern English Biography: A-H. p. 911. (Many sources give Charles Hasting Doyle's date of birth as 10 April 1804 – the year 1804 is definitely wrong because Charles Hasting Doyle's brother John Sydney Doyle was born in May 1804.)
  2. "No. 2767". The Edinburgh Gazette. 4 January 1820. p. 5.
  3. "No. 17923". The London Gazette. 17 May 1822. p. 794.
  4. "No. 18149". The London Gazette. 25 June 1825. p. 1107.
  5. "No. 19631". The London Gazette. 3 July 1838. p. 1490.
  6. "No. 20594". The London Gazette. 14 April 1846. p. 1356.
  7. "No. 22426". The London Gazette. 25 September 1860. p. 3466.
  8. "No. 23381". The London Gazette. 19 May 168. p. 2878.
  9. McDonald, Ronald H. (1982). "Doyle, Sir Charles Hastings". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. XI (1881–1890) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  10. "No. 23512". The London Gazette. 1 July 1869. p. 3750.
  11. "No. 23581". The London Gazette. 28 January 1870. p. 538.
  12. Hart's Army List for 1871, p. 546; for 1872, p. 546; for 1873, p. 546.
  13. "Army Commands" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  14. "No. 24445". The London Gazette. 20 April 1877. p. 2676.

Sources
  • Hart, H.G. 1841. The New Army List. London.
  • Paton, G. 1892. Historical Records of the 24th Regiment. London.
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