Charles Hastings Doyle

Sir Charles Hastings Doyle
Colonial Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia
In office 17 September 1863 – 8 November 1865
Monarch	Victoria
Premier	James W. Johnston Charles Tupper
Governor	The Viscount Monck
Preceded by	George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby
Succeeded by	Richard Graves MacDonnell
2nd Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia
In office 18 October 1867 – 1 May 1873
Monarch	Victoria
Governors General	The Viscount Monck The Lord Lisgar
Premier	Hiram Blanchard William Annand
Preceded by	Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet, of Kars
Succeeded by	Joseph Howe
1st Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
In office 1 July 1867 – 18 October 1867
Monarch	Victoria
Governor General	The Viscount Monck
Premier	Peter Mitchell Andrew Rainsford Wetmore
Preceded by	Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore
Succeeded by	Francis Pym Harding
Personal details
Born	(1804-04-10)10 April 1804 London, England
Died	19 March 1883(1883-03-19) (aged 78) London, England

Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Hastings Doyle, KCMG (10 April 1804 – 19 March 1883) was a British military officer and he was the second Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia post Confederation and the first Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick.

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. He was promoted to the ranks of Lieutenant on 27 September 1822 and Captain on 16 June 1825. He received a Brevet-Major on 28 June 1838. Rising through the ranks, he reached Major General in 1860.

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. Next Charles Hastings Doyle countered the threat of Fenian Raid on Canada's Maritime Provinces by ending the Campobello Island Raid (1866). 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.

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 promoted to lieutenant general and appointed a Knight Commander of St Michael and St George. He became Commander of the British Troops in Canada in 1870 and General Officer Commanding Southern District in April 1874.

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

• Military history of Nova Scotia

Sources

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

External links

• "Charles Hastings Doyle". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.