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,
Ontario. He was afterwards commanding engineer in Newfoundland. He became a brevet-major in 1837, a regimental lieutenant-colonel in 1840, and retired from the service in 1847. He died in 1848. ==Family==