months, and, again anxious for active service, proceeded to Egypt,
but before his arrival that country had been completely conquered. He
returned through Turkey, making some stay at Constantinople, and during
the peace of Amiens resided for a short time at Paris. His active and
enterprising spirit had now to endure a period of repose. In 1808,
however, he proceeded with General Sir John Moore to Sweden, where he
availed himself of that opportunity to traverse the country in all
directions. Shortly afterwards Sir John Moore was ordered to Spain, and
Major General Graham served there during the whole campaign of 1808.
He was afterwards appointed to command a division in the expedition to
Walcheren, but having been attacked with fever he was obliged to come
home. In February, 1811, having been previously raised to the rank of
Lieutenant-General, he was appointed to the command of an expedition to
attack the rear of the French army then blockading Cadiz, an operation
which led to the celebrated battle of Barrosa. The thanks of Parliament
were voted to him and the brave force under his command, and never
were thanks more nobly earned or bestowed in a manner more honourable
to those who offered and those who received them. He was at that time
a member of the House of Commons, and in his place in Parliament he
received that mark of a nation's gratitude. In acknowledging the honour
thus conferred on him, Lieutenant-General Graham spoke as follows:--
"I have formerly often heard you, sir, eloquently and impressively
deliver the thanks of the house to officers present, and never without
an anxious wish that I might one day receive this most enviable mark of
my country's regard. This honest ambition is now fully gratified, and I
am more than ever bound to try to merit the good opinion of the house."
Barrosa was to Lord Lynedoch what Almaraz was to Lord Hill, and
Albuhera to Lord Beresford.
After this series of events, and having been appointed a Knight of
the Bath in February, 1812, Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Graham joined
the army under the Duke of Wellington; but from ill health he was
obliged to revisit England for a short period. Early in 1813, however,
he returned to the Peninsula, and commanded the left wing of the
British army at Vittoria. Mr. Abbott, then Speaker of the House of
Commons, (afterwards Lord Colchester,) in alluding to General Graham's
distinguished career at this period, stated that his was "a name never
to be mentioned in our military annals without the strongest expression
of respect and admiration;" and Mr. Sheridan, speaking of the various
excellences, personal and professional, which adorned his character,
said:--
"I have known him in private life; and never was there seated a loftier
spirit in a braver heart."
Alluding to his services in the retreat of the British army to Corunna,
he continued:--
"In the hour of peril, Graham was their best adviser; in the hour of
disaster, Graham was their surest consolation."
He was second in command at the siege and capture of Ciudad Rodrigo;
and commanded the army employed in the siege of St. Sebastian, and
also the left wing at the passage of the Bidassoa; but soon after, in
consequence of ill health, he was obliged to resign his command to
Sir John Hope. In 1814 he was appointed to the command of the forces
employed in Holland, and on the 3rd of May in the same year he again
received the thanks of Parliament, and was raised to the peerage by the
title of Baron Lynedoch, of Balgowan, in the county of Perth.
As years advanced, and the infirmities of age began to accumulate,
Lord Lynedoch found the climate of Italy better calculated to sustain
his declining energies than the atmosphere and temperature of his own
country; he, therefore, spent much time on the continent; but, on a
recent occasion, so anxious was he to manifest his sense of loyalty and
his personal attachment to the Queen, that when Her Majesty visited
Scotland, he came home from Switzerland for the express purpose of
paying his duty to Her Majesty in the metropolis of his native land.
Lord Lynedoch's first commission in the army, that of Lieut.-Colonel,
was dated 10th February, 1794; and he was promoted Colonel, by brevet,
on the 22nd July, 1795. His commissions in the grade of General Officer
were,--Major-General, 25th September, 1803; Lieut.-General, 25th July,
1810; and General, 19th July, 1821. He was successively Colonel of the
90th Regiment, at the head of which he continued nearly twenty years;
of the 58th; and of the 14th Regiment, from which he was removed to
the ROYAL REGIMENT on 12th December, 1834, when the Duke of Gordon was
appointed to the Colonelcy of the Scots Fusilier Guards. He was also
Governor of Dumbarton Castle in North Britain. He wore a Cross for his
services at Barrosa (as Commander of the Forces), at Ciudad Rodrigo,
Vittoria, and St. Sebastian (where he commanded a division), and he
was a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, and of the foreign Order of St.
Michael and St. George.
To advert at greater length to Lord Lynedoch's services as a soldier
would be superfluous. Conspicuous, in action for his talents, in
council for his sagacity, and in private life for unassuming worth and
the most estimable qualities, his character displayed a rare union of
skill, chivalry, and amiability, and his widely-spread fame, his long
and intimate connexion with the army, which have been the admiration
of the present generation, will continue to hold a prominent place in
British history. Though his titles have become extinct, he has left
behind him a name which will be held in honoured remembrance while
loyalty is considered a virtue, and military renown a passport to fame.
SIR GEORGE MURRAY, G.C.B.,
_Appointed 29th December, 1843_.
SIR GEORGE MURRAY was a native of Scotland, and entered the army at the
age of 17, as an Ensign in the 71st Regiment, on the 12th of March,
1789. He was shortly afterwards removed to the 34th Regiment, and to
the 3rd Foot Guards in July, 1790, from which time, to the close of the
war in 1815, he was almost constantly employed in the active military
service of his country, in the Netherlands, in the West Indies, in
Egypt, in the north of Europe, and in the peninsula of Spain and
Portugal.
He was first under fire with the 3rd Guards in Flanders, and
participated in the campaigns of 1793 and the two following years,
being present at the affair at St. Amand, sieges of Tamars and
Valenciennes, attack of Lincelles, investment of Dunkirk, &c.; and he
accompanied the army on its retreat through Holland and Germany.
In 1795 he served as aide-de-camp to Major-General A. Campbell on the
expedition to Quiberon Bay; and in the autumn he proceeded to the West
Indies with the force under Sir Ralph Abercromby. Having returned home
in ill health, he continued on the Staff of Major-General Campbell,
first in North Britain, and then in Ireland.
In the year 1799 Lieut.-Colonel Murray was employed in the
Quarter-Master General's department of the army under the Duke of
York in Holland; and he was wounded in the action on the Helder.
He subsequently embarked from Cork for Gibraltar with part of the
force destined to be employed under Sir Ralph Abercromby in the
Mediterranean; and, being again placed in the Quarter-Master General's
department, he was ordered to precede the army to Egypt, for the
purpose of making arrangements for the debarkation of the troops. He
was present in the action on the landing of the force, in the affairs
of the 13th and 21st March, 1801, at the siege of Rosetta, and the
investments of Cairo and Alexandria.
From Egypt Lieut.-Colonel Murray proceeded to the West Indies, where he
served for twelve months in the situation of Adjutant General.
Returning home, he was, in the early part of 1803, appointed one of the
Assistant Quarter-Masters General at head-quarters; in November, 1804,
he was appointed Deputy Quarter-Master General to the army in Ireland.
While holding that commission he was detached, as Quarter-Master
General, with the expedition to Stralsund, and likewise with the
force employed under Lieut.-General the Earl Cathcart at Copenhagen.
He resumed his duties in Ireland; and in 1808 was again detached,
as Quarter-Master General, with the force sent to the Baltic under
Lieut.-General Sir John Moore; and when these troops proceeded to
Portugal, Lieut.-Colonel Murray accompanied that force, and was engaged
at the battle of Vimiera, at Lugo, and Villa Franca, as well as at
Corunna, and his services as a staff officer were particularly alluded
to and commended in Lieut.-General Hope's despatch containing the
account of that victory.
In the year 1809 Colonel Murray was appointed Quarter-Master General to
the army under Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, but returned home
in 1811, and in May of the following year was appointed Quarter-Master
General in Ireland, where he remained until September, 1813, when he
again proceeded to the Peninsula, and served there at the head of
the Quarter-Master General's department until the close of the war,
participating in all the important operations of that eventful period,
and evincing all the talents which are indispensable in a staff officer
with an army employed in such arduous and trying circumstances: he
received a Cross and five Clasps for his services in the field.
In June, 1814, Major-General Sir George Murray was appointed
Adjutant-General to the army in Ireland, a situation which he vacated
in December following for the purpose of undertaking the governorship
of the Canadas; but on the resumption of hostilities in the spring
of 1815, he quitted America for the purpose of joining his former
companions in arms. He did not, however, succeed in reaching the army
until the allies had entered Paris; but he continued to serve on the
Continent, with the local rank of Lieut.-General, until the return of
the Army of Occupation to England, in 1818.
In August, 1819, Lieut.-General Sir George Murray was appointed
Governor of the Royal Military College; in March, 1824, he was
nominated Lieut.-General of the Ordnance, and in March, 1825, he
proceeded to Dublin as Lieut.-General, commanding the forces in
Ireland, where he remained till the year 1828, and in September, 1829,
he received the appointment of Governor of Fort George in North Britain.
Sir George Murray's career was not, however, limited to his military
employments. Having sat in two successive Parliaments as member for
his native county of Perth, he was offered the seals of office as
Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, which he accepted,
and held from 1828 to 1830. His merits and talents, whether in a
military or political point of view, were thus kept in view by the
Duke of Wellington, then Prime Minister. In 1834 and 1835 he filled
the situation of Master-General of the Ordnance, and in 1841 that
appointment was again conferred upon him, and he continued to hold it
till within a short period of his decease, which occurred on the 28th
July, 1846.
Sir George Murray was successively Colonel commandant of a battalion
of the 60th Regiment, Colonel of the 72nd Regiment, and of the 42nd
Royal Highlanders, which he held upwards of twenty years, when he was
removed to the Colonelcy of the FIRST, OR ROYAL REGIMENT, in December,
1843.
He was a Knight of the Crescent; and, in addition to the Orders of
Leopold of Belgium, St. Alexander Newski of Russia, the Red Eagle of
Prussia, the Tower and Sword of Prussia, Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria,
and St. Henry of Saxony, Sir George Murray was decorated with the
Crosses of the First Class of the Order of the Bath, and of the Royal
Hanoverian Guelphic Order.
SIR JAMES KEMPT, G.C.B. and G.C.H.,
_Appointed 7th August, 1846_.
FOOTNOTES:
[144] Historians have fallen into several errors respecting this
distinguished officer. Père Daniel states that he was esteemed by Henry
IV. of France, whereas Henry IV. died in 1610, and young Hepburn did
not leave school until 1614; Hamilton states that he was knighted on
his return from the continent by James VI.; but this monarch died in
1625, and Colonel Hepburn did not return until 1632; and Harte, in his
life of Gustavus Adolphus, states that Colonel Hepburn was killed in a
duel in France; whereas there is abundant proof that he was killed at
the siege of Saverne.
[145] Colonel Monro, afterwards Lord Monro, speaks of Hepburn in the
highest terms of praise; they were first schoolfellows at college--then
companions in their travels--and afterwards associates in war,
partaking of the same toils, dangers, and triumphs.--See Monro's
Expedition part ii. p. 75.
[146] Abrégé de la Vie de Frederic Duc de Schomberg, par M. de Luzaney.
[147] Captain in the ROYAL REGIMENT in 1684. Vide Nathan Brooke's Army
List, dated 1st October, 1684; also in 1687. Vide Bibl. Harl. 4847.
[148] Vide Historical Record of the Royal Regiment, page 129.
[149] David Hume, the historian, was secretary to General St. Clair
during the expedition to the coast of France, and the embassy to Vienna
and Turin.
[150] When Prince Edward was ordered to storm Morne Tartisson and Fort
Royal, on the 17th of March, 1794, he placed himself at the head of his
brigade of grenadiers, and addressed them as follows:--"_Grenadiers!
This is St. Patrick's day; the English will do their duty in compliment
to the Irish, and the Irish in compliment to the Saint!_--FORWARD,
GRENADIERS!"
[151] In commemoration of the important captures in the West Indies,
at the period above stated, an anniversary dinner takes place at the
United Service Club on the 17th of March (St. Patrick's day), as it was
on that saint's day his late Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, at the
head of his Grenadier brigade, carried Fort Royal by escalade, when
both his aides-de-camp, General Sir Frederick Wetherall, and the late
Major-General Vesey, were severely wounded close to His Royal Highness.
The following officers attended on the 17th March, 1838:--The Marquis
of Thomond, General Viscount Lorton, Admiral Lord Colville, General Sir
Lowry Cole, G.C.B., General Lord Howden, G.C.B., General Sir Fitzroy
Maclean, Bart., Lieutenant-General Sir H. S. Keating, K.C.B., Sir
William Pym, K.C.H., and Major-General Reeves, C.B. All these officers,
with the exception of the Admiral, served in the Grenadier brigade,
under the orders of their illustrious commander, His Royal Highness the
Duke of Kent.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical
errors.
Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
Enclosed italics markup in _underscores_.