The Right Honourable The Lord Metcalfe GCB PC |
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Portrait by George Chinnery, early 1820s
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Acting Governor-General of India | |
In office 20 March 1835 – 4 March 1836 |
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Monarch | William IV |
Preceded by | Lord William Bentinck |
Succeeded by | The Lord Auckland |
Governor of Jamaica | |
In office 1839–1842 |
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Monarch | Victoria |
Preceded by | Sir Lionel Smith, Bt |
Succeeded by | The Earl of Elgin |
Governor General of the Province of Canada | |
In office 1843–1845 |
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Monarch | Victoria |
Preceded by | Sir Charles Bagot |
Succeeded by | The Earl Cathcart |
Personal details | |
Born |
Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India |
30 January 1785
Died | 5 September 1846 Malshanger, Oakley, Hampshire |
(aged 61)
Nationality | British |
Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe, GCB PC (30 January 1785 – 5 September 1846), known as Sir Charles Metcalfe, Bt between 1822 and 1845, was a British colonial administrator. He held appointments including acting Governor-General of India, Governor of Jamaica and Governor General of the Province of Canada.
Metcalfe was born on 30 January 1785 in Lecture House, Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, India, the second son of Thomas Metcalfe, then a major in the Bengal Army, who first went to India in 1767 as a cadet in the King’s Army, afterwards became a Baronet, MP, and Director of the British East India Company (1789–1812), and was created a baronet on 21 December 1802. Thomas Metcalfe married Susannah Selina Sophia, Lady Metcalfe (1756–1815) in Calcutta in 1782, who was the daughter of a merchant, John Debonnaire, trading at Fort St. George, who subsequently settled at the Cape of Good Hope. She and her sister were educated in England and then visited their father and went on to Madras. The sister died on the voyage but Susannah married Major John Smith of the Bengal Establishment in Madras on 24 August 1776. After his death she married Major Thomas Theophilus Metcalfe in Calcutta in 1782, and the couple returned to England in 1785. Their elder daughter was Emily Theophila, Viscountess Ashbrook (1791–1885).
His Metcalfe descent can be traced back to the 14th century in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, where the Metcalfe family originated. Having been educated at Eton, in 1800 he sailed for India as a writer in the service of the Company. He then studied Oriental languages as the first student at Lord Wellesley's College of Fort William. His younger brother, Sir Thomas Theophilus Metcalfe, 4th Baronet (1795–1853) was an agent of the Governor General of India to the Mughal court.