George Byng, 7th Viscount Torrington

The Right Honourable The Viscount Torrington
"A man of the world". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1876.
9th Governor of British Ceylon
In office 29 May 1847 – 8 October 1850
Monarch	Queen Victoria
Preceded by	James Emerson Tennent acting governor
Succeeded by	Charles Justin MacCarthy acting governor
Personal details
Born	9 September 1812
Died	27 April 1884 (aged 71)

George Byng, 7th Viscount Torrington (9 September 1812 – 27 April 1884), was a British colonial administrator and courtier.

Torrington was the son of Vice-Admiral George Byng, 6th Viscount Torrington, and succeeded his father in the viscountcy in 1831 at the age of eighteen. In 1847 he was appointed Governor of Ceylon, a post he held until 1850. There he is known for his harsh suppression of the 1848 civil uprising.^[1]

He later served as a Permanent Lord-in-Waiting to the Prince Consort from 1853 to 1859 and to Queen Victoria from 1859 to 1884.

Lord Torrington died in April 1884, aged 71. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Lawrence's Church, Mereworth, Kent.^[2] He was succeeded in the viscountcy by his nephew, George.

References

1. Katherine Prior, ‘Anderson, Sir George William (1791–1857)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
2. "Arrangements for this day". The Morning Post (34901). 2 May 1884. p. 5.

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• www.thepeerage.com