Article

Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle

Published Online January 29, 2008

Last Edited December 15, 2013

Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle, soldier, author (b in Eng 1791; d at Kingston, Canada W 2 Nov 1847). Educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Bonnycastle entered the Royal Engineers as an officer, serving in the WAR OF 1812.

Bonnycastle, Sir Richard Henry

Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle, soldier, author (b in Eng 1791; d at Kingston, Canada W 2 Nov 1847). Educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Bonnycastle entered the Royal Engineers as an officer, serving in the WAR OF 1812. Knighted for his service as commander of the Kingston garrison in the REBELLIONS OF 1837, he rose to commander, Royal Engineers, for Upper Canada 1837-39 and later headed the Royal Engineers in Newfoundland, retiring shortly before his death. Like many military men, Bonnycastle was an acute observer of the local scene, and in the last years of his life produced a series of books describing the provinces in which he had served for so many years. His best work was Canada and the Canadians (2 vol., 1846, repr 2 vol., 1969).