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Yeah, he's a Victorian throwback. There's an element of that in most of the Doctors (Eccleston's the only one who has no trace of it) but they brought other things to the mix. Hartnell's just very one-dimensional.
I get the chronology thing, I sometimes do it with bands, but I'm not sure how useful it is with DW, or even possible, given some of the earlier episodes are lost altogether.
If you want to stick to chronology but don't mind skipping the less important episodes, I'd recommend:
Hartnell:
The Daleks - 1st time we see them.
The Tenth Planet - Introduction of the cybermen and 1st regeneration of the doctor.
Troughton:
The Invasion - Introduction of UNIT (key to the Pertwee era)
The War Game - Shows Gallifrey for the 1st time. The Dr exiled to Earth
Pertwee:
Spearhead From Space - Introduces the Autons (crap) and the start of the earth-bound Pertwee era where he works alongside UNIT.
Terror of the Autons - Introduction of the Master (If you find you like The Master, much of the Pertwee era is dominated by stories involving him)
The Three Doctors - End of the doctor's exile on Earth
Tom Baker:
Genesis of the Daleks (I know, Netflix!)
Ark in Space - Some still argue that, in terms of canon, it renders certain stories from of the modern era problematic (mainly End of the World, from the Eccleston era) It doesn't but still a good source of debate and an absolutely cracking story anyway.
The Deadly Assassin - Lots of political backstory. Sort of DW's Dune.
There's some great stories from the Peter Davison, Colin Baker (well maybe not) and McCoy eras but I wouldn't say any of them are really essential in terms of the Who-mythos.
If you want to see them at their best, though:
Peter Davison:
Caves of Androzani
Colin Baker:
OK, just skip him
Sylvester McCoy:
Survival
After those you could jump straight into the modern era, which is best watched series-by-series, with a pretty good grounding in Who-lore.
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