Charles Hardy (1714-18 May 1780) was a British Royal Navy admiral who served as Governor of the Province of New York from 1755 to 1758 (interrupting James DeLancey's terms) and as the Tory MP for Rochester from 1764 to 1768 and for Plymouth from 1771 to 1780.
Biography[]
Charles Hardy was born in Portsmouth, the son of Charles Hardy the Elder. He joined the Royal Navy in 1731 and served as the absentee governor of Newfoundland in 1744 before fighting in King George's War and the French and Indian War. He participated in the 1758 Siege of Louisbourg and later in the 1759 Battle of Quiberon Bay, and he was promoted to Admiral of the White in 1778 and to Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet in 1779. He also served as a Tory MP, opposing the Rockingham Whigs' land tax and consistently supporting Lord Frederick North's administration.