The Honorable Charles Cathcart, son of Alan, seventh Lord Cathcart, entered the army in the eighteenth year of his age, and in 1704 he commanded a company in Colonel Macartney’s regiment, serving on the frontiers of Holland. In 1706 he commanded a troop in the Scots Greys, which corps distinguished itself at the battle of Ramilies in the same year: in 1707 he was Brigade Major to the Earl of Stair. Continuing in active service with the army under the Duke of Marlborough, he acquired the reputation of a brave and zealous officer: in 1709 he was appointed major of the Scots Greys, and was soon afterwards promoted to the Lieutenant Colonelcy of the regiment.

On the accession of King George I, he was appointed one of the grooms of His Majesty’s Bedchamber. In the autumn of 1715 he joined the forces under the Duke of Argyll at Stirling, and served against the rebels under the Earl of Mar. On the 23rd October, he was detached against a hundred rebel horse and two hundred foot, whom he attacked with his dragoons, killed many, and took seventeen prisoners. At the battle of Sheriffmuir on the 13th November, in the same year, he charged the insurgents at the head of the Scots Greys, and contributed materially to the overthrow of the left wing of the rebel army. His Majesty rewarded him with the Colonelcy of the Ninth Foot in 1717; but he only retained this appointment eleven months.

In 1728 he obtained the Colonelcy of the 31st Regiment, and was removed, in 1731, to the Eighth Dragoons. In 1732 he succeeded to the title of Lord Cathcart; he was appointed Lord of the Bedchamber to King George II in the following year, and was promoted to the Colonelcy of the Seventh Horse, later Sixth Dragoon Guards. In 1739 he was advanced to the rank of Major-General. His Lordship was chosen one of the representatives of the Scottish peerage in several parliaments; and was Governor of Duncannon Fort, and of Londonderry. An attack on the Spanish possessions in America having been resolved upon, in the year 1739, Lord Cathcart was selected to command the expedition: at the same time he was appointed Commander-in-Chief in America; but he died on his passage in December, 1740, and was buried on the beach of Prince Rupert’s Bay, Dominica, where a monument was erected to his memory.