Charles Cathcart , 2nd Earl Cathcart Charles Murray Cathcart , 2nd Earl Cathcart GCB ( Walton - on - the - Naze 21 December 1783 – 16 July 1859 St Leonards - on - Sea ) , styled Lord Greenock between 1814 and 1843 , was a British Army general who became Governor General of the Province of Canada and Lieutenant Governor of Canada West ( 26 November 1845 – 30 January 1847 ) . Life . Cathcart , eldest surviving son of William Schaw Cathcart , 1st Earl Cathcart , was born at Walton , Essex , on 21 December 1783 , entered the army as a cornet in the 2nd life guards on 2 March 1800 . He served on the staff of Sir James Craig in Naples and Sicily . He became heir apparent to the lordship of Cathcart in 1804 earldom after his brother William Cathcart , Master of Cathcart , died while commanding a Royal Navy vessel in the West Indies . After his father was elevated to an earldom in 1814 he became known by the courtesy title Lord Greenock . Cathcart saw service in the Walcheren Expedition in 1809 and 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 in the battles of Barossa , for which he received a gold medal on 6 April 1812 , of Salamanca , and of Vittoria , during which he served as assistant quartermaster - general . He was next sent to assist Lord Lynedoch in Holland as the head of the quartermaster - general ' s staff , and was afterwards present at the Battle of Waterloo , where he had three horses shot under him . He was awarded the Russian order of St . Wladimir , the Dutch order of St . Wilhelm , and the CB . In 1823 he was appointed a lieutenant - colonel in the royal staff corps at Hythe . In 1830 he moved to Edinburgh where he became involved in the proceedings of the Highland Society , chose to become a member of the Royal Society and where he announced the discovery of a new mineral , a sulphate 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 of the forces in 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 1854 he retired . Family . On 30 September 1818 he married Henrietta Mather , daughter of Thomas Mather in France . The couple remarried at Portsea , England , 12 February 1819 . Lady Cathcart accompanied her husband , and their daughters , to Canada in June , 1845 . Lady Cathcart presented colours to one of the militia regiments in Montreal . The family returned to England in May , 1847 . She died on 24 June 1872 . He 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 . "