Charles Cathcart, 2nd Earl Cathcart

General Charles Murray Cathcart, 2nd Earl Cathcart, (21 December 1783 – 16 July 1859), styled Lord Greenock between 1814 and 1843, was a British Army general who became Governor General of the Province of Canada (26 November 1845 – 30 January 1847). He was a keen amateur geologist, with enough recognition to warrant being made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Early life Cathcart was born at Walton, Essex, on 21 December 1783, the eldest surviving son of William Cathcart, 10th Lord Cathcart (later the 1st Earl Cathcart).

Career Cathcart entered the army as a cornet in the 2nd Regiment of Life Guards on 2 March 1800. He served on the staff of Sir James Craig in Naples and Sicily. After his father was elevated to an earldom in 1814 he became known by the courtesy title Lord Greenock.

Cathcart saw service on the ill-fated Walcheren Expedition in 1809 and at 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 at the Battle of Barrosa, for which he received a gold medal on 6 April 1812, at the Battle of Salamanca, and the Battle of Vitoria, during which he served as assistant quartermaster-general. He became involved in the proceedings of the Highland Society, became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and where he announced the discovery of a new mineral, a sulphide 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-in-Chief, 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 1855 he retired.

Cathcart 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.