baronet, of an ancient family, which derived its name from the
lordship of Trelawny, in Alternon, in the county of Cornwall;
he obtained a commission in the Duke of Monmouth's regiment of
foot, raised in England in 1672, for the service of the King of
France against the Dutch. In his first campaign he was engaged in
the invasion of Holland; in 1673 the famous city of Maestricht
was besieged and captured; and during the four succeeding years
he served on the Rhine under Marshals Turenne, Luxemburg, and
De Crequi, and having acquired the character of a brave and
meritorious officer, he was promoted to the majority of his corps.
When Monmouth's regiment was disbanded in 1679, he was placed on
half-pay; but in the summer of 1680 he was appointed major of
the SECOND TANGIER regiment, for which corps he raised a company
of sixty-five men in Devonshire, &c. Soon after his arrival in
Africa he was promoted to the lieut.-colonelcy, and in 1682 he
succeeded Colonel Kirke in the colonelcy of the regiment. He took
an important part in bringing about the Revolution in 1688; and
having joined the association formed in favour of the Prince of
Orange, he induced his brother, the Bishop of Bristol, to engage
in the same cause. In November, 1688, he was promoted to the rank
of brigadier-general; after he had joined the Prince of Orange,
King James deprived him of his regiment; but it was restored by
the Prince on the 31st of December. He distinguished himself at
the head of a brigade of infantry at the battle of the Boyne; and
he was subsequently appointed governor of Dublin. His conduct
while in charge of the metropolis of Ireland, was marked by zeal
for the public good, and by the ability with which he performed
the duties of his government. On the 2nd of December, 1690, he was
promoted to the rank of major-general; and in 1691 he retired from
his regiment, and was appointed to the government of Plymouth.
The following character is given of this distinguished officer in
history:--
"General Charles Trelawny was a gentleman of an ancient and
honourable family, which he also ennobled by his actions. He served
under the famous TURENNE, and his gallantry and experience spoke
him worthy of so great a master. His public actions in several
instances redounded to his honour, but his modesty was too delicate
to admit of his reciting them. He served with the troops which
Charles II. sent to the assistance of France, when they and their
country gained the greatest reputation, by covering the retreat
of the French and repulsing the Germans, an action of such signal
importance that it procured the thanks of Louis XIV.; and this may
be said to his and the nation's honour, that the armies of France
have been protected as well as conquered by the English. Nor did
he shine less in his private than his active life; the reputation
he acquired in public services he adorned with affability,
tenderness, and charity to all about him; the bravery of the
soldier being tempered with the politeness of the accomplished
gentleman. In short, so generous and noble a spirit attended his
whole course of life, and so much patience and resignation in
his last illness, that he appeared in both equally the hero, and
died great as he had lived." His decease occurred on the 24th of
September, 1731.
SIR CHARLES ORBY.
_Appointed 11th December, 1688._
This officer was a stanch adherent to the Roman Catholic cause;
he was lieut.-colonel of the third troop of life guards and
deputy adjutant-general, and King James II. rewarded him with
the colonelcy of the QUEEN'S regiment of foot, from which he was
removed by the Prince of Orange.
CHARLES TRELAWNY.
_Re-appointed 31st December, 1688._
HENRY TRELAWNY.
_Appointed 1st January, 1692._
HENRY TRELAWNY, seventh son of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, and brother
of General Charles Trelawny, raised a company of foot in the summer
of 1680, for the SECOND TANGIER regiment, in which corps he was
appointed captain, and he served three years in Africa. In 1685,
he was at the battle of Sedgemoor; and in December, 1688, he was
promoted to the lieut.-colonelcy of the regiment. He served under
King William in Ireland, and was appointed colonel of the regiment
on the 1st of January, 1692. He was promoted to the rank of
brigadier-general in 1696; and retired from the regiment in 1702.
WILLIAM SEYMOUR.
_Appointed 12th February, 1702._
WILLIAM SEYMOUR obtained a commission in the royal regiment of
fusiliers (now seventh foot) when that corps was raised in the
summer of 1685; and two years afterwards he commanded a company.
In 1691 he was appointed major, and in 1692 lieut.-colonel of the
second regiment of foot guards. He served under King William in
the Netherlands, and was wounded at the battle of Landen in 1693.
In the following year he succeeded Lord Cutts in the colonelcy
of one of the regiments of foot raised in 1689. After the peace
of Ryswick his regiment was disbanded; and on the 1st of March,
1701, he succeeded Louis Marquis of Puizar in the colonelcy of a
regiment, now the twenty-fourth foot, from which he was removed in
1702 to the QUEEN'S, now KING'S OWN, regiment, and promoted to the
rank of brigadier-general. He commanded a brigade before Cadiz in
1702, and was wounded at Vigo. He was subsequently appointed to
the command of the six regiments of marines; was promoted to the
rank of major-general in 1704, to that of lieut.-general in 1707,
retired from the regiment in 1717, and died in 1727.
THE HONOURABLE HENRY BERKELEY.
_Appointed 25th December, 1717._
HENRY BERKELEY, third son of Charles second Earl of Berkeley,
was page of honour to the Duke of Gloucester, son of Queen Anne;
and after his Royal Highness's decease, he was page of honour to
her Majesty Queen Anne. He obtained a commission in the army in
December, 1709; in June, 1717, he was appointed first commissioner
for executing the office of master of the horse to King George I.;
and in December following he was promoted to the colonelcy of the
KING'S OWN, from which he was removed in 1719, to the Scots troop
of horse grenadier guards. He was one of the King's equerries, and
a member of parliament for the county of Gloucester; and died at
Bath in May, 1736.
CHARLES CADOGAN.
_Appointed 21st April, 1719._
CHARLES CADOGAN entered the army in 1706, and served in Flanders
under the celebrated John Duke of Marlborough. He was a member
of parliament for the borough of Reading, also for Newport
in Southamptonshire. In 1715 he was appointed captain and
lieut.-colonel in the second foot guards; and in 1719 he purchased
the colonelcy of the KING'S OWN regiment. He succeeded, on the
decease of his brother, the celebrated William Earl Cadogan,
in 1726, to the dignity of LORD CADOGAN, Baron of Oakley; and
in 1734 he was removed to the Inniskilling dragoons. In 1739
he was promoted to the rank of major-general; in 1742 he was
appointed colonel of the second troop (now second regiment) of
life guards, which gave him the privilege of taking the court
duty of gold stick; and in 1745 he was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant-general. The government of Sheerness was conferred upon
his lordship in 1749, that of Gravesend and Tilbury in 1752, and
in 1761 he was promoted to the rank of general. His lordship was a
fellow of the Royal Society, and one of the trustees of the British
Museum; he died in 1776.
WILLIAM BARRELL.
_Appointed 8th August, 1734._
This officer entered the army in the reign of William III.; he
obtained the rank of captain in 1698, and his distinguished conduct
in the wars of Queen Anne was rewarded with the brevet rank of
colonel on the 1st of January, 1707. In 1715 he was promoted to
the colonelcy of the twenty-eighth foot; in 1727 he was appointed
brigadier-general; in 1730 he was removed to the twenty-second
regiment, and in 1734 to the KING'S OWN. In the following year
he was promoted to the rank of major-general; in 1739 to that of
lieut.-general; and he was also appointed governor of Pendennis
castle. He died on the 9th of August, 1749.
ROBERT RICH.
_Appointed 22nd August, 1749._
ROBERT RICH, second son of Sir Robert Rich, baronet, a
distinguished officer in the wars of Queen Anne, was promoted by
King George II. to the lieut.-colonelcy of the KING'S OWN, at the
head of which corps he distinguished himself at the battle of
Culloden and was wounded; and in 1749 he succeeded Lieut.-General
Barrell in the colonelcy of the regiment, which he held seven
years. In 1758 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and in
1760 to that of lieut.-general; he also held the appointments of
governor of Londonderry and Culmore-fort in Ireland; and in 1768
he succeeded, on the decease of his father, to the dignity of a
BARONET. He died in 1785.
ALEXANDER DUROURE.
_Appointed 12th May, 1756._
This officer was promoted on the 27th of February, 1751, from the
lieut.-colonelcy of the twenty-fourth, to the colonelcy of the
thirty-eighth regiment; and was removed in 1756 to the KING'S OWN.
In 1758 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and in 1760
to that of lieut.-general. He died in 1765.
THE HONORABLE ROBERT BRUDENELL.
_Appointed 23rd January, 1765._
ROBERT BRUDENELL, third son of George Earl of Cardigan, was many
years a member of parliament for Marlborough, also groom of the
bedchamber to his Royal Highness the Duke of York, whose train he
bore at the coronation of George III. He was appointed captain and
lieut.-colonel in the third foot guards in 1758; was promoted to
the colonelcy of the sixteenth foot in 1763; and removed to the
KING'S OWN in 1765. He died at Windsor in October, 1768.
STUDHOLME HODGSON.
_Appointed 7th November, 1768._
STUDHOLME HODGSON, after serving several years in the army, was
appointed, in 1745, aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland, whom
he attended at the battles of Fontenoy and Culloden. He obtained
the command of a company, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel
in the first foot guards, on the 22d of February, 1747; and on
the 30th of May, 1756, he was promoted to the colonelcy of the
fiftieth foot. He obtained the rank of major-general on the 25th
of June, 1759; and was removed to the colonelcy of the fifth
foot in October of the same year. In 1761 he was advanced to the
rank of lieutenant-general, and he commanded the land forces of
a successful expedition against Belle Isle in the same year,
for which he obtained the approbation of the king, and received
the expression of the "warm sense of the great service he had
done his king and country;" also the congratulation, "on the
completion of so important and critical an operation which must
ever be remembered to his honour," from the secretary of state,
the celebrated William Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham. He was
appointed in 1765, governor of Forts George and Augustus. In 1768
he was removed to the KING'S OWN; in 1778 he was promoted to the
rank of general; and in 1782 he was removed to the colonelcy of
the fourth Irish horse, now seventh dragoon guards. He was again
removed, in 1789, to the eleventh light dragoons, and on the 30th
of July, 1796, he was promoted to the rank of field-marshal. He
enjoyed this elevated rank two years, and died in the autumn of
1798, at the advanced age of ninety years.
JOHN BURGOYNE.
_Appointed 7th June, 1782._
JOHN BURGOYNE was a distinguished cavalry officer in the reign of
George II. On the 10th of May, 1758, he was promoted from captain
in the eleventh dragoons to captain-lieutenant and lieut.-colonel
in the second foot guards; and his talents and experience
occasioned him to be selected, in the following year, to form
and discipline a corps of light cavalry, (now the sixteenth, or
the Queen's lancers,) of which he was appointed lieut.-colonel
commandant. Previous to this period light cavalry was little known
in the British army, the value of that _arme_ had, however, become
appreciated; and the discipline, dexterity, and efficiency of
BURGOYNE'S horsemen soon attracted admiration, and he received from
his sovereign repeated and conspicuous testimonies of his royal
approbation. In 1762 he was sent with his regiment to Portugal,
where he served as brigadier-general, and he acquired distinction
under the Count La Lippe and the Earl of Loudoun, whose despatches
bore testimony of his gallantry and zeal for the service, in the
warmest terms. He was appointed in 1763 colonel of his regiment,
which was honoured with the title of the _Queen's light dragoons_;
and in 1772 he was promoted to the rank of major-general; he was
also appointed governor of Fort William. When the British colonies
in North America revolted against the mother country, he was placed
on the staff of the army in America, and he joined the troops at
Boston a short time before the battle of Bunker's Hill. In 1776 he
served under Lieut.-General Carlton in Canada, and in the autumn of
that year he was promoted to the local rank of lieut.-general in
America.
In 1777 he was appointed to the command of an army destined to
proceed by Lakes Champlain and George to Hudson's River, with
the view of forcing its way to Albany. An erroneous idea of the
loyalty of the majority of the inhabitants of this part of North
America appears to have been prevalent; and the difficulties to be
encountered in this enterprise from the wooded and but partially
inhabited country, through which the army had to march, with
the state of the roads, and other causes, appear to have been
overlooked. After a series of hard toil, incessant effort, and
severe privation, the Indian warriors who formed part of the army,
and whose predatory habits and disposition to use the tomahawk
and scalping-knife had been restrained, all deserted; many of the
Canadians and provincials followed this example, while others
were deterred from performing their duties by fear; and after
several stubborn engagements, in which the British regiments
fought gallantly against an immense superiority of numbers, the
lieut.-general found himself on the banks of the Hudson's River,
with an army of three thousand five hundred men, reduced in
physical power by incessant toil and want of provision, invested
by an army of sixteen thousand Americans, disappointed of the hope
of timely co-operation from other armies, without provisions; and
under these dismal circumstances he concluded a convention with
the American General Gates at Saratoga, in which he agreed that
the troops should lay down their arms on condition of being sent
to England, and not serving in America during the remainder of
the war. These articles were, however, violated by the American
government, on frivolous pretences, and the gallant men who had
fought so bravely, and who did not submit until surrounded by five
times their own number, were detained in America. Lieut.-General
Burgoyne was exposed to the fate which usually attends unsuccessful
commanders, and his conduct was censured; he defended himself in
parliament with great warmth, and courted investigation; this was
followed by altercation with the members of the government, which
ended in his resigning, in 1779, the colonelcy of the Queen's light
dragoons, also his appointment on the staff of the army in America,
and the government of Fort William; but he retained his rank of
lieut.-general in order to be amenable to a court martial. He was
afterwards restored to royal favour; appointed commander-in-chief
in Ireland; and in 1782 he was appointed colonel of the KING'S
OWN regiment of foot; he was also a member of the privy council,
and represented the town of Preston in parliament. He was an
accomplished gentleman; also an able scholar, and author of a much
celebrated comedy called "The Heiress;" and his character was
further adorned with benevolence. He died on the 4th of August,
1792, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
GEORGE MORRISON.
_Appointed 8th August, 1792._
This officer was appointed lieut.-colonel in the army, in 1761,
he also held the appointment of deputy quarter-master-general,
and in 1763 he was placed at the head of that department, where
he remained many years. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in
1772, to that of major-general in 1777, lieut.-general in 1782, and
general in 1796. He obtained the colonelcy of the seventy-fifth
foot in 1779; was removed to the seventeenth foot in 1782; and to
the KING'S OWN, in 1792. He died in 1799.
JOHN EARL OF CHATHAM.
_Appointed 5th December, 1799._
JOHN PITT succeeded, in 1778, to the dignity of EARL OF CHATHAM. He
served as a subaltern with the thirty-ninth foot at Gibraltar and
in 1779 he was appointed captain in the eighty-sixth, or Rutland
regiment, which was disbanded at the termination of the American
war. In 1782 he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-colonel, and
in 1788 he was appointed first lord of the admiralty, which
he held six years. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in
1793, and to that of major-general in 1795, and in 1796 he was
appointed president of the council. When the KING'S OWN regiment
was augmented, in 1799, to three battalions, he was appointed
commandant of the second battalion; he proceeded in the same year
to Holland, and commanded a brigade under the Duke of York in
the actions of the 2nd and 6th of October, when he was wounded.
In December he succeeded General Morrison in the colonelcy of
the KING'S OWN. In 1801 he was appointed master-general of the
ordnance, which he held five years; in 1802 he was promoted to
the rank of lieut.-general, and, in 1827, he was re-appointed
master-general of the ordnance, which he held three years. His
lordship was nominated in 1809 to the command of an expedition
against Walcheren and Antwerp, which failed from the numerous
delays which occurred in conducting the enterprise. In 1812 he was
promoted to the rank of general. He was subsequently honoured with
the dignity of knight of the garter; and, in 1820, he was appointed
governor of Gibraltar. He died in 1835.
JOHN HODGSON.
_Appointed 30th September, 1835._
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example,
daybreak, day-break; sea-service, sea service; vice-roy, vice roy;
bandalier; devotedness; musquetry.
Pg viii, '1806 Returns to England' replaced by '---- Returns to
England'.
Pg x, In List of Plates, added 'Fourth (or King's Own) Regiment of Foot,
to face page 141'.
Pg 55, 'well-pallisadoed' replaced by 'well-pallisaded'.
Pg 55, 'forward aud chased' replaced by 'forward and chased'.
Pg 126, 'with the but-ends' replaced by 'with the butt-ends'.
Footnote [26], 'Welsh Fusileers' replaced by 'Welsh Fusiliers'.
Footnote [27], 'bowitzer' replaced by 'howitzer'.