Sir Charles Darling

Sir Charles Darling (1809-1870), governor of Victoria from September 1863 to May 1866, first came to New South Wales as an ensign with the 57th Regiment in 1827. From 1830 to 1831 he served as military secretary to his uncle, Governor Ralph Darling. After returning to Sandhurst and the West Indies, he retired from the army and settled in Jamaica. There, he served in various administrative roles that equipped him for the posts of lieutenant-governor of Cape Colony and governor of Newfoundland, Jamaica, Honduras, and the Bay Islands in succession from 1855 to 1863. In September of that year he arrived to take up the governorship of Victoria, appearing to be the man with the experience for the job. However, he arrived in a post-gold rush colony in complex tumult over land laws, tariffs and the relative power of the upper and lower houses of parliament. Darling was soon censured for failing to check the dealings of his cabinet ministers and openly opposing further transportation. While the transportation issue died off, in 1865 twenty-two former cabinet ministers petitioned the queen about irregularities that Darling had allowed over the previous two years. He was recalled from office, and a successor was appointed, but he himself resigned from the colonial service in April 1867. Amidst popular outrage, based on the idea that Darling had become a ‘martyr in the cause of progress’, the legislative assembly tried (unsuccessfully) to make a grant of £20000 to Lady Darling; but Darling met with no sympathy in England, having acted according to his own inclinations rather than exercising the restraint appropriate to his vice-regal position. Finally, after complicated ramifications, in May 1868 Darling was allowed to withdraw his resignation and he was granted a retrospective pension, but he died a broken man soon after.
The man in this photograph is identified in some Australian collections as Sir Charles Darling, in others as Sir Thomas Pratt, and in one – holding two copies of the picture – as both.