Charles Justin MacCarthy

Sir Charles Justin MacCarthy (1811–1864)^[1] was the 12th Governor of British Ceylon and the 12th Accountant General and Controller of Revenue. He was appointed on 22 October 1860 and was Governor until 1 December 1863. He also served as acting governor on two separate occasions. He was first appointed in 1850.^[2][3]

Sir Charles Justin MacCarthy
Tombstone of Charles Justin MacCarthy on the Spa cemetery in 2015.
12th Governor of British Ceylon
In office 22 October 1860 – 1 December 1863
Monarch	Queen Victoria
Preceded by	Charles Edmund Wilkinson (Acting governor)
Succeeded by	Terence O'Brien (Acting governor)
Acting 18 January 1855 – 11 May 1855
Monarch	Queen Victoria
Preceded by	George William Anderson
Succeeded by	Henry George Ward
Acting 18 October 1850 – 27 November 1850
Monarch	Queen Victoria
Preceded by	The Viscount Torrington
Succeeded by	George William Anderson
12th Accountant General and Controller of Revenue
In office 28 May 1847 – 1 October 1851
Preceded by	Henry Wright
Succeeded by	W. C. Gibson
Personal details
Born	1811 (1811) Brighton, England
Died	15 August 1864(1864-08-15) (aged 52–53) Spa, Belgium

Life

His parents were Donough and Mary MacCarthy, and he was born in Brighton.^[4][5] He was a relation of Nicholas Wiseman, and in the early 1830s was in Rome, with a view to entering the Roman Catholic priesthood. Under the influence of the ideas of Lamennais, however, he ceased theological studies. In Rome through Wiseman he met Monckton Milnes, who became a lifelong friend. Milnes then helped him into a colonial career.^[1][6]

MacCarthy was knighted in 1857.^[1] In office he adopted a policy of financial retrenchment. His main aim was to promote railway construction.^[7] He left Ceylon in December 1863, in poor health.^[8] He died at Spa, Belgium, on 15 August 1864.^[9]

Family

MacCarthy married in 1848 Sophia Brunel Hawes, botanist and eldest daughter of Sir Benjamin Hawes.^[5][10][11] They had a son, Charles Philip.^[12]