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List of governors of Portsmouth facts for kids

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Round Tower (Portsmouth)2009
The Round Tower, Portsmouth

The Governor of Portsmouth was the Constable of Portchester Castle from the 13th Century to the reign of Henry VIII. Since then Portsmouth had its own military Captain or Governor, who was based in the Square Tower built in Old Portsmouth in 1494 as part of the fortifications to protect the rapidly expanding naval port. The Coats of Arms of former Governors of Portsmouth are displayed on the walls of the Square Tower's Lower Hall. In 1540, the Hospital of St. Nicholas, suitably converted and modernised, became the military centre of the town. Its Domus Dei, now the roofless Royal Garrison Church, became the residence of the Captain or Governor. The Governorship was abolished in 1834.

The Lieutenant Governorship was vested in the General Officer Commanding South-West District from 1793 to 1865, in the General Officer Commanding Southern District from 1865 to 1903 and in the Officer Commanding Portsmouth Defences / Portsmouth Garrison from 1903 until that post was abolished in 1968.

Constables of the King's Castle at Portchester and Town of Portsmouth

Governors of Portsmouth

Lieutenant-Governors of Portsmouth

  • 1514: Sir Thomas Wyndham
  • 1558–1559?: Edward Turnour
  • 1593/4?–1605: Sir Benjamin Berry
  • 1615: Sir John Burlace
  • 1620–1624: Sir John Oglander
  • 1624: Sir Richard Morrison
  • 1630?: Sir Thomas Brett
  • 1640-1: Robert Willis
  • 1647-?: Colonel Thomas Betsworth (or Bettesworth or Bettisworth)
  • 1656: Major Peter Murford
  • 1662: Sir William Berkeley
  • 1665: Sir Phillip Honywood
  • 1672: George Legge
  • 1673: Henry Slingsby
  • 1689: Colonel Rearsby
  • 1689: Colonel Sir John Gibson
  • 1697: Hon. Robert Fregue
  • 1701: Colonel Sir John Gibson
  • 1717: Hon. Colonel Peter Hawker
  • 1731: General Hon. Peter Campbell
  • 1751: John Leighton
  • 15 February 1752: Captain John Murray
  • 27 March 1775: Colonel Robert Watson
  • 18 September 1790: Colonel Thomas Trigge
  • 16 January 1796: Lieutenant-General Cornelius Cuyler
  • 21 February 1799: Major-General Thomas Murray
  • 25 June 1799: Major-General John Whitelocke
  • 10 November 1804: Colonel Hildebrand Oakes
  • 22 June 1805: Major-General Hon. John Hope
  • 24 December 1805: Major-General Sir George Prevost
  • 26 January 1808: Major-General Arthur Whetham
  • 20 May 1813: Lieutenant-General Hon. Thomas Maitland
  • 27 January 1814: Major-General William Houston
  • 25 September 1814: Major-General Kenneth Alexander Howard
  • 21 August 1819: Major-General Sir James Kempt GCB
  • 20 October 1819: Major-General Sir George Cooke KCB
  • 23 July 1821: Major-General Sir James Lyon KCB
  • 20 March 1828: Major-General Sir Colin Campbell KCB
  • 1834: Major-General Sir Thomas McMahon KCB
  • 1839: Lieutenant-General Sir Hercules Pakenham
  • 1846: Lieutenant-General Lord Frederick FitzClarence
  • 1851: Major-General Sir George D'Aguilar
  • 1852: Major-General Sir James Simpson
  • 1855: Major-General Henry William Breton
  • 1857: Lieutenant-General the Hon. Sir James Scarlett
  • 1860: Major-General Lord William Paulet
  • 1865: Lieutenant-General Sir George Buller
  • 1870: General Viscount Templetown
  • 1874: General Sir Charles Hastings Doyle
  • 1877: General Sir John Garvock
  • 1878: General Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
  • 1884: General Sir George Willis
  • 1889: General the Hon. Sir Leicester Smyth
  • 1890: Lieutenant-General the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
  • 1893: Major General Sir John Davis
  • 1898: Lieutenant General Sir Baker Creed Russell

Town Majors of Portsmouth

  • 16 October 1753: Patrick Douglas
  • 1781: Thomas Smelt
  • to 1806: Grant
  • 18 October 1806: Nathan Ashurst
  • 12 January 1821: Robert Simpson
  • 2 October 1823: Henry White
  • in 1849, 1854: Frederick Thomas Maitland
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