Charles Henry Darling

Sir Charles Henry Darling (19 February 1809 – 25 January 1870) was a British colonial governor.

Early life Darling was born on 19 February 1809 in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. He was the son of Isabella and Henry Charles Darling. His father was a British Army officer who was attached to the colonial militia in Nova Scotia; he later attained the rank of major-general and served as lieutenant-governor of Tobago. His maternal grandfather Charles Cameron was a long-serving governor of the Bahamas.

Darling was educated in England at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In December 1826 he enlisted as an ensign in the 57th Regiment of Foot and was posted to the colony of New South Wales. He served for a period as assistant private secretary to his uncle, Governor Ralph Darling. He was promoted lieutenant in 1830 and the following year return to England to complete further training at Sandhurst. He was appointed military secretary to Lionel Smith, Governor of Barbados, in 1833 and followed Smith to Jamaica in 1836.

Following his early recall as Governor of Victoria, the colonial parliament attempted to compensate Darling through a £20,000 payment to his wife. Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, the colonial secretary, sent messages to both the Darlings and the Legislative Assembly that this would not be permitted. He also instructed the new governor, Sir John Manners-Sutton, to refuse assent to any such bill passed while Darling remained in the Colonial Service. Victoria was Darling's final posting.

Personal life In 1835, Darling married Anne Wilhelmina Dalzell, a member of a wealthy plantation-owning family from Barbados.

He was then married, at Christ Church, Barbados, on 14 December 1839 to Mary Ann Nurse (who died of yellow fever in St Lucia on 6 November 1848). His third marriage, at Ilfracombe, North Devon, was on 10 December 1851 to Elizabeth Isabella Caroline Salter ( 1820 – 10 December 1900).

Charles Henry Darling died at Lansdown Crescent, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, aged 60.

Legacy Darling Street in the Ballarat south suburb of Redan is named for him.