Life
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle was the son of Professor John Bonnycastle, and was born in 1791. He studied at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, as a cadet, and passed out as a second lieutenant of the royal engineers 28 September 1808, becoming a first lieutenant in the following year. He served at the siege of Flushing in 1809, and in the American campaigns of 1812–14, during which he was present at the capture of Fort Castine, and the occupation of the part of the state of Maine east of the Penobscot, and was commanding engineer at the construction of the extensive works thrown up by the British on the Castine peninsula. He attained the rank of captain in 1814, in which year he married the daughter of Captain W. Johnstone. Subsequently, he served with the army of occupation in France. As commanding royal engineer in Upper Canada, he rendered very important services during the Canadian rebellion in 1837–39, particularly in February 1838, when, at the head of a force of militia and volunteers, in the absence of regular troops, he defeated the designs of the insurgents at Napanee, and the brigands at Hickory Island, for an attack on the city of Kingston. For these services he was knighted. In his capacity as a military engineer, Bonnycastle oversaw the fortification of Fort Henry in modern Kingston,Family
Through his son, Henry William John Bonnycastle (1813–1888) would come a prominent Bonnycastle family of Canadian politicians and adventurers and the founder ofWorks
* Richard Henry Bonnycastle (1849). ''Canada and the Canadians, Volume I''. London. * Richard Henry Bonnycastle (1849). ''Canada and the Canadians, Volume II''. London.Notes
References
* *External links
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnycastle, Richard Henry Richard Henry Bonnycastle 1791 births 1847 deaths Royal Engineers officers English emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario People from Kingston, Ontario Immigrants to Upper Canada