List of Governors of Plymouth

Plymouth Citadel from below

The Governor of Plymouth was the military Captain or Governor of the Fortress of Plymouth.^[1] The Governorship was abolished in 1842. The Lieutenant Governorship was vested in the General Officer Commanding Western District from 1793 to 1903, and in the Officer Commanding Plymouth Garrison from 1903 until that post was abolished.

Governors of Plymouth

• 1596: Ferdinando Gorges
• 1638–1643: Sir Jacob Astley
• 1643: William Ruthven (Parliamentarian)
• 1644 (?): Col. William II Gould (1615-1644)^[2] of Floyer Hayes, Exeter, after whose tenure "Mount Gold" in Plymouth is named.^[3] He was buried at St Andrew's, Plymouth.
• 1645–1645: John Robartes, 2nd Baron Robartes
• 1659–1659: John Desborough
• 1660–1661: Sir William Morice
• 1661–1696: John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath
• 1696–1722: Major General Charles Trelawny^[4]
• 1722–1745: Charles Churchill
• 1745–1752: John Murray, 2nd Earl of Dunmore^[5]
• 1752–1759: John Ligonier, 1st Viscount Ligonier
• 1759–1760: Richard Onslow
• 1760–1784: John Waldegrave, 3rd Earl Waldegrave
• 1784–1805: Lord George Lennox
• 1805–1807: John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham^[6]
• 1807–1808: Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake
• 1808–1814: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe^[7]
• 1814–1819: Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond
• 1819–1826: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
• 1826–1830: William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt
• 1830–1842: Rowland Hill, 1st Baron Hill

Lieutenant-Governors of Plymouth

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• 1782 - 1803 Colonel John Campbell^[8]
• 1803 - 1812 Major-General Richard England^[9]
• 1812 - 1819 Major-General Gore Browne^[10]
• 1819 - 1823 Major-General Sir Denis Pack^[11]
• 1823 - 1833 Major-General Sir John Cameron^[12]
• 1835 - 1840 Major-General Sir Willoughby Cotton^[13]
• 1840 - 1842 Major-General Robert Ellice
• 1842 - 1852 Major-General Sir Henry Murray
• 1853 - 1854 Major-General Sir Harry Smith
• 1855 - 1859 Major-General George Eden
• 1859 - 1865 Major-General William Hutchinson
• 1865 - 1866 Lieutenant-General Viscount Templetown
• 1866 - 1869 Lieutenant-General Sir Augustus Spencer
• 1869 - 1874 Major-General Sir Charles Staveley
• 1874 - 1877 Lieutenant-General Henry Smyth
• 1877 - 1880 Lieutenant-General the Hon. Leicester Smyth
• 1880 - 1883 Lieutenant-General Thomas Pakenham
• 1883 - 1885 Major-General James Sayer
• 1885 - 1889 Major-General Thomas Lyons
• 1889 - 1990 Major-General Sir Howard Elphinstone
• 1890 - 1895 General Sir Richard Harrison
• 1895 - 1899 Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Forestier-Walker
• 1899 - 1905 Lieutenant-General Sir William Butler

References

1. "Stuart Expeditions". British Empire. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
2. No date given for governorship in Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp.344-6, pedigree of Floyer of Floyer Hayes, p.422
3. Poulton-Smith, Anthony, South Devon Place Names
4. Concise Dictionary of National Biography
5. The London Gazette: no. 8442. p. 4. 18 June 1745.
6. The London Gazette: no. 15792. p. 391. 26 March 1805. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
7. The London Gazette: no. 16122. p. 284. 23 February 1808.
8. The London Gazette: no. 12313. p. 3. 13 July 1782.
9. The London Gazette: no. 15608. p. 985. 6 August 1803.
10. Bromley, Janet (2012). "Wellington's Men Remembered Volume 2: A Register of Memorials to Soldiers who Fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo". Pen & Sword. p. 510. ISBN 978-1848846753.
11. "Pack, Sir Denis". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
12. The London Gazette: no. 17985. p. 2120. 20 December 1823.
13. "The (Almost) Complete Cotton Family Tree". Combermere Abbey. Retrieved 4 December 2015.