sponsored by the-amg.com
© RW Baker
Yzerfontein@gmail.com
(suggestions welcomed)
The town Darling is named after Sir Charles Darling, who was Lieutenant-Governor of the Cape Colony in 1853.
Charles Henry Darling was born in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia on February 19th 1809 - his parents were Henry Charles Darling (a Major-General born in Uppingham, Rutland on the 28th February 1780; died 11 February 1845. Lt Governor to Tobago from 1833-45) and Isabella Hay Cameron (eldest daughter of Charles Cameron, sometime Governor of the Bahamas and Lady Margaret Hay).
He attended the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in England. In 1826 he began his military career as an ensign and by 1830 he had worked his way up to Lieutenant. In 1831 Darling returned to studying at Sandhurst. where he stayed until 1833.
In 1833 Darling left Sandhurst to serve as a military secretary in Barbados, the Windward Islands, and Jamaica. On the 2nd May 1835 he married Anne Wilhelminia Dalzell (born 18 July 1813, bap St George, Barbados 7 August 1813) at St George, Barbados. On the 16 October 1837 his wife died in Tobago. Shortly thereafter their only child, Charles Henry Hay Darling, died (18 November 1837).
At the time of his retirement from the army in 1841, Darling had worked his way up to the rank of captain.
Darling began his new career in the civil service as a government official in Jamaica, until he was appointed lieutenant-governor of St. Lucia in 1847. On the 6 November 1848 his wife, Mary Ann Nurse, died of yellow fever in St Lucia.
In 1851 he became lieutenant-governor of Cape Colony (situated in what is today known as South Africa). On the 10th December 1851 Darling married Elizabeth Isabella Caroline Salter. He would remain married to her until he died.
He was appointed governor-in-chief of Antigua and the Leeward Islands in 1855 but never served there. The Colonial Office decided to send him to Newfoundland instead. In 1855 Darling became governor of Newfoundland. During 1855 and 1856 Newfoundland was politically peaceful and enjoying a spurt of economic growth, with its inclusion in the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States. Initially, Darling got along well with the newly elected Liberal administration, headed by Philip F. Little. His agreeable relationship with the government ended quickly, when (to the disagreement of the Newfoundland government) he supported the British suggestion to grant France more fishing rights in Newfoundland's waters between Cape St. Johan and Cape Ray. Eventually the recommendations were dropped, but Darling's stance had soured his relationship with the government and his term ended shortly after the dispute.
In February 1857 Darling was appointed governor and captain-chief of Jamaica. On Friday, 11th September 1863 he was sworn in as governor of Victoria, Australia. This was his last appointment, serving as governor until the 7th May 1866.
Darling died in 7 Lansdowne Crescent, Cheltenham, England, on the 25th January 1870.