Sir Charles Hardy (c.1714 – May 18, 1780) was a British naval officer and colonial governor.

The son of a Vice Admiral, Charles Hardy became a Captain in the Royal Navy on August 10, 1741, at the age of 27.

He was appointed governor and commander-in-chief of the British colony of Newfoundland in 1744. The next year he commanded H.M.S. Torrington, assisting in the protection of the convoy which brought reinforcements from Gibraltar to the newly captured fortress of Louisbourg.

He was knighted in 1755 and served as British Administrative Governor of the Colony of New York from 1755 to 1757. During his term he was made Rear-admiral of the Blue.

In 1757, under the command of Vice Admiral Francis Holburne, Hardy escorted Lord Loudoun and his army from New York to Halifax intending to attack the French fortress of Louisbourg, but the attack was cancelled. The next year, he was second in command under Admiral Edward Boscowan at the Second Siege of Louisbourg in 1758. That fall, he and James Wolfe attacked French posts around the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and destroyed all of the French fishing stations along the northern shores of what is now New Brunswick and along the Gaspé peninsula. He also participated in Hawke's victory of Belle Isle in 1759.

Hardy served as governor of Greenwich hospital from 1771 to 1780. In 1778, he was made Admiral of the White.

Sir Charles Hardy died at Spithead, England.

Hardy's brother, Josiah , was a merchant and the Governor of New Jersey from 1761 to 1763.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online