The Governor of Sheerness Fort and the Isle of Sheppey was a military officer who commanded the fortifications at Sheerness

Sheerness

Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....

, on the Isle of Sheppey

Isle of Sheppey

The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England in the Thames Estuary, some to the east of London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale...

, part of the defenses of the Medway estuary. The area had been fortified since the time of Henry VIII, but the Sheerness fortifications were destroyed in 1667 when it was captured during the Dutch Raid on the Medway

Raid on the Medway

The Raid on the Medway, sometimes called the Battle of the Medway, Raid on Chatham or the Battle of Chatham, was a successful Dutch attack on the largest English naval ships, laid up in the dockyards of their main naval base Chatham, that took place in June 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War...

. It was subsequently re-fortified as Sheerness became the site of a major Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 dockyard, in operation until 1960. The post of Governor was abolished in 1852, when the last governor, Lord Combermere

Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere

Field Marshal Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere GCB, GCH, KSI, PC , was a British military leader, diplomat and politician...

, accepted office as the Constable of the Tower

Constable of the Tower

The Constable of the Tower is the most senior appointment at the Tower of London. In the middle ages a constable was the person in charge of a castle when the owner - the king or a nobleman - was not in residence...

.

Governors of Sheerness

• 1666–1668: Sir Chichester Wrey, 3rd Baronet
• 1670–1680: Nathaniel Darrell
• 1680–1690: Sir Charles Lyttelton, 3rd Baronet
  Sir Charles Lyttelton, 3rd Baronet
  Sir Charles Lyttelton, 3rd Baronet was the second son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, 1st Baronet. He inherited the baronetcy and the family estates in Frankley, Halesowen, Hagley, and Upper Arley on the death of his brother Sir Henry Lyttelton, 2nd Baronet in 1693...
  
  
• 1690–1706: Robert Crawford
• 1706–1729: Henry Withers
• 1729–1745: Lord Mark Kerr
• 1745–1749: John Huske
  John Huske
  John Huske was a British Army general known for his leadership at the Battle of Falkirk and the Battle of Culloden during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745...
  
  
• 1749–1752: Charles Cadogan, 2nd Baron Cadogan
  Charles Cadogan, 2nd Baron Cadogan
  General Charles Cadogan, 2nd Baron Cadogan was a British peer, soldier and Whig politician.Charles Cadogan was the younger son of Henry Cadogan and his wife, Bridget, the second daughter of Sir Hardress Waller...
  
  
• 1752–1778: Sir John Mordaunt
  John Mordaunt (British Army officer)
  General Sir John Mordaunt, KB was a British soldier and Whig politician, the son of Lieutenant-General Harry Mordaunt and Margaret Spencer...
  
  
• 1778–1811: Francis Craig
• 1812–1821: Francis Edward Gwyn
• 1821–1852: Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere
  Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere
  Field Marshal Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere GCB, GCH, KSI, PC , was a British military leader, diplomat and politician...
  
  

Lieutenant-Governors of Sheerness

• 1685–1690: Robert Crawford
• 1690–1725: Thomas King
• Richard Evans
• Sir James Malcolm, 4th Baronet
• ?–1806: Alexander Mair
• 1806–1813: Thomas Rudsdell
• 1813–?: Robert Walker