The Round Tower, Portsmouth The Governor of Portsmouth was the Constable of Portchester Castle from the 13th Century to the reign of Henry VIII . Since then Portsmouth had its own military Captain or Governor, who was based in the Square Tower built in Old Portsmouth in 1494 as part of the fortifications to protect the rapidly expanding naval port. The Coats of Arms of former Governors of Portsmouth are displayed on the walls of the Square Tower's Lower Hall. In 1540, the Hospital of St. Nicholas , suitably converted and modernised, became the military centre of the town. Its Domus Dei , now the roofless Royal Garrison Church, became the residence of the Captain or Governor. The Governorship was abolished in 1834.
The Lieutenant Governorship was vested in the General Officer Commanding South-West District from 1793 to 1865, in the General Officer Commanding Southern District from 1865 to 1903 and in the Officer Commanding Portsmouth Defences / Portsmouth Garrison from 1903 until that post was abolished in 1968.[1]
Constables of the King's Castle at Portchester and Town of Portsmouth Governors of Portsmouth 1544–1545: Sir Anthony Knyset 1545: John Chadderton (Captain of Portsmouth) 1545: William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester 1551/2–1554: Richard Wingfield 1554–1559: Lord Chidiock Paulet (Captain) 1559–1571: Sir Adrian Poynings 1571–1593: Henry Radclyffe, 4th Earl of Sussex (Warden and Captain) 1593/4–1606: Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy 1606–1609: Sir Francis Vere [3] 1609–1630: William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke 1630–1638: Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon 1638/9–1642: George Goring, 1st Baron Goring 1642–1643: Sir William Lewis, 1st Baronet (Parliamentary) 1644: William Jephson 1645: Richard Norton 1648: Robert Legg 1648: George Goring, 1st Baron Goring 1649: John Feilder 1649: John Desborough 1649–1659: Nathaniel Whetham 1660–1661: Richard Norton 1661–1673: Prince James, Duke of York 1673-1682: George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth 1682-1687: Edward Noel, 1st Earl of Gainsborough 1687-1689: James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick 1690-1694: Thomas Tollemache 1694-1712: Thomas Erle 1712-1714: William North, 6th Baron North and Grey 1714-1718: Thomas Erle 1718-1719: Charles Wills 1719-1730: George MacCartney 1730-1737: John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll 1737-1740: Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon 1740-1752: Philip Honywood [4] 1752-1759: Henry Hawley 1759-1773: James O'Hara, 2nd Baron Tyrawley 1773-1778: Edward Harvey [5] 1778-1782: Robert Monckton [6] 1782-1794: Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke [7] 1794-1810: Sir William Pitt 1810-1811: Hon. Henry Fox 1811-1826: William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt 1826-1827: Sir William Keppel [8] 3 November 1827 – 1834: Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh [9] Lieutenant-Governors of Portsmouth Town Majors of Portsmouth 16 October 1753: Patrick Douglas[31] 1781: Thomas Smelt[32] to 1806: Grant 18 October 1806: Nathan Ashurst[33] 12 January 1821: Robert Simpson[34] 2 October 1823: Henry White in 1849, 1854: Frederick Thomas Maitland Sources ^ Governors of Portsmouth History in Portsmouth ^ a b c Rickard, John. The Castle Community: The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 . ^ Markham, Clements R. (1888). The Fighting Veres. Boston, New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Co. ^ "No. 7909". The London Gazette . 10 May 1740. p. 2. ^ "No. 11374". The London Gazette . 27 July 1773. p. 2. ^ "No. 11865". The London Gazette . 11 April 1778. p. 1. ^ "No. 12300". The London Gazette . 28 May 1782. p. 5. ^ "No. 18319". The London Gazette . 2 January 1827. p. 2. ^ "No. 18412". The London Gazette . 9 November 1827. p. 2298. ^ Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of Charles I, page 563 and Journals of the House of Commons, page 220, A. 1647 ^ "No. 9140". The London Gazette . 11 February 1752. p. 2. ^ "No. 11547". The London Gazette . 25 March 1775. p. 1. ^ "No. 13237". The London Gazette . 14 September 1790. p. 573. ^ "No. 13855". The London Gazette . 6 January 1796. p. 64. ^ a b "Army List 1799". The National Archives, War Office Records, WO65/49. ^ "No. 15110". The London Gazette . 23 February 1799. p. 190. ^ "No. 15152". The London Gazette . 25 June 1799. p. 63. ^ "No. 15752". The London Gazette . 6 November 1804. p. 1367. ^ "No. 15817". The London Gazette . 18 June 1805. p. 797. ^ "The Gentleman's Magazine". 1823. Retrieved 4 December 2015 . ^ "No. 15874". The London Gazette . 21 December 1805. p. 1597. ^ "No. 16112". The London Gazette . 23 January 1808. p. 128. ^ "No. 16733". The London Gazette . 25 May 1813. p. 1018. ^ "No. 16851". The London Gazette . 1 February 1814. p. 262. ^ "No. 16967". The London Gazette . 20 December 1814. p. 2487. ^ "No. 17507". The London Gazette . 17 August 1819. p. 1475. ^ "No. 17530". The London Gazette . 30 October 1819. p. 1914. ^ "No. 17733". The London Gazette . 4 August 1821. p. 1617. ^ "No. 18457". The London Gazette . 1 April 1828. p. 629. ^ Henry Colburn , The United Service Magazine , vol. 29 (1839) p. 111.^ "No. 9312". The London Gazette . 16 October 1753. p. 3. ^ "No. 12150". The London Gazette . 6 January 1781. p. 2. ^ "No. 15966". The London Gazette . 14 October 1806. p. 1362. ^ "No. 17668". The London Gazette . 13 January 1821. p. 93. Tim Backhouse. "The Governors & Lieutenant Governors of Portsmouth". Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2010 . Robert Walcott, English Politics in the Early Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956)