Charles Hardy

Admiral of the White Sir Charles Hardy ( – 18 May 1780) was a Royal Navy officer, politician and colonial administrator who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain between 1764 and 1780. He served as governor of New York from 1755 to 1757.

Early career

Born at Portsmouth, Hampshire, the son of Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Hardy, Charles Hardy joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in 1731.

He became a captain in the Royal Navy on 10 August 1741, In 1744 he was appointed governor and commander-in-chief of the British colony of Newfoundland, though there is no record of his visiting it during his term in office.

Member of Parliament Hardy sat as Member of Parliament for Rochester from 1764 to 1768 and for Plymouth from 1771 to 1780.

Personal life In 1749 Hardy married Mary Tate, who died the next year without issue and left him her home, Delapré Abbey; he sold it in 1764 to Edward Bouverie for £22,000. Following his first wife's death, he married Catharine Stanyan, the daughter of Temple Stanyan. Through Catherine, he inherited Temple Stanyan's estate at Rawlins, Oxfordshire.

The couple had three sons and two daughters. Sir Charles Hardy died at Spithead. He bequeathed £3000 to each of the sons and £4000 to each daughter, as well as leaving his estate to his eldest son Temple Hardy. By Catharine's death in 1801, only Temple survived of the three sons. Hardy's brother Josiah was a merchant and the Governor of New Jersey from 1761 to 1763.