and was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Thirteenth Foot, on
the 31st of December, 1688. He served under Major-General Mackay
in Scotland, and displayed great gallantry at the battle of
Killicrankie: he also served under King William III., in Ireland,
and was at the battle of the Boyne. He returned to England soon
afterwards; but accompanied the expedition to Ireland, under
Lieutenant-General the Earl of Marlborough, (afterwards the
celebrated John Duke of Marlborough,) and was at the capture of
Cork and Kinsale, and also in several skirmishes. His excellent
conduct on all occasions was rewarded with the colonelcy of the
FOURTEENTH Foot, in 1692: he afterwards served in the Netherlands,
was at the battle of Landen, and was engaged in the siege of
Namur. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, in 1703;
to that of major-general, on the 1st of January, 1704; and to
lieutenant-general, on the 1st of January, 1707. He died at Bath,
in June, 1713.
JASPER CLAYTON.
_Appointed 15th June, 1713._
JASPER CLAYTON obtained a commission in the army on the 24th of
June, 1695, and afterwards acquired great celebrity as a gallant
and meritorious officer. He served under King William until the
peace of Ryswick, in 1697. He also served under the great Duke
of Marlborough, in the reign of Queen Anne; and was appointed
lieutenant-colonel of the Eleventh Foot, with which he served in
Spain. His regiment suffered severely at the battle of Almanza, in
1707, and he returned with it to England in 1708, to recruit. In
1709, he served in Flanders, and distinguished himself at the siege
of Mons, where he was wounded[19]. He also served at the forcing of
the French lines, in 1710, and was rewarded with the colonelcy of a
newly-raised regiment of foot, on the 8th of December of that year.
In 1711 he served in the disastrous expedition against Quebec, and
his regiment had three officers and seventy-one soldiers drowned in
the river St. Lawrence, then called the river of Canada.
At the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, his regiment was disbanded;
and in June of the same year, he was appointed colonel of the
FOURTEENTH Foot. He served in Scotland under the Duke of Argyle,
during the rebellion of the Earl of Mar, and commanded a brigade
at the battle of Dumblain, on the 13th of November, 1715. He
was subsequently appointed lieutenant-governor of Gibraltar; he
commanded the troops in that fortress when it was besieged by the
Spaniards, in 1727, and his conduct in the successful defence
of that important place, called forth the approbation of his
sovereign and country. The rank of major-general was conferred on
this excellent officer, on the 2nd of November, 1735; and that of
lieutenant-general, on the 2nd of July, 1739. In 1743, he served
under King George II. in Germany; and highly distinguished himself
at the battle of Dettingen, on the 16th of June in that year.
He was killed as he was giving orders for the artillery to play
upon the bridge as the French retreated, and his fall was equally
regretted by his sovereign, the officers, and soldiers of the army.
He was interred with military honors in the chapel of Prince George
of Hesse, at Hanau.
JOSEPH PRICE.
_Appointed 22nd June, 1743._
JOSEPH PRICE obtained a commission of ensign in a regiment of
foot in 1706; and subsequently rose to the rank of captain and
lieutenant-colonel in the First Foot Guards. In January, 1741,
he was promoted to the colonelcy of the Fifty-seventh (now
Forty-sixth) regiment, which was then first raised; and in 1743 he
was removed to the FOURTEENTH Foot. He was promoted to the rank of
brigadier-general on the 6th of June, 1745. During the campaign of
1747, he commanded a brigade of infantry in the Netherlands, under
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland. At the battle of Val,
on the 2nd of July of that year, he highly distinguished himself.
His brigade was posted in the village of Val, and his gallantry
during the action was commended by the Duke of Cumberland in his
public despatch. He died in November of the same year, at Breda, in
Holland.
THE HONORABLE WILLIAM HERBERT.
_Appointed 1st December, 1747._
THE HONORABLE WILLIAM HERBERT, fifth son of Thomas, eighth Earl
of Pembroke, and father of Henry, first Earl of Caernarvon, was
appointed to a commission in the army on the 1st of May, 1722.
He was promoted on the 15th December, 1738, to the commission
of captain and lieutenant-colonel in the First Foot Guards; and
in December, 1747, to the colonelcy of the FOURTEENTH Foot. In
January, 1753, he was removed to the Second Dragoon Guards. He was
subsequently advanced to the rank of major-general: he was groom of
the bedchamber to King George II., and a member of parliament for
Wilton, in Wiltshire. He died on the 31st of March, 1757.
EDWARD BRADDOCK.
_Appointed 17th February, 1753._
EDWARD BRADDOCK was appointed ensign in the Second Foot Guards on
the 11th October, 1710; lieutenant of the grenadier company in
1716[20]; captain and lieutenant-colonel in 1736; major in 1743;
and was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the same regiment
on the 21st of November, 1745. In 1753 he was appointed to the
colonelcy of the FOURTEENTH Foot; in the following year he was
promoted major-general, and sent with a body of troops to North
America; and in 1755 he was commander-in-chief in that country.
Having completed arrangements for opening the campaign against the
French, who had made aggressions on the British territory, he took
the field with a body of regular troops, provincials, and Indians;
and on the 9th of July, while marching with twelve hundred men
through the woods towards Fort du Quesne, he was suddenly attacked
by a body of French and Indians, who had concealed themselves
behind the trees and bushes, and his men were put into some
confusion. "He exerted himself to remedy this disaster as much as
man could do, and, after having had five horses killed under him,
he was shot through the arm and through the lungs, of which he died
four days afterwards[21]."
THOMAS FOWKE.
_Appointed 12th November, 1755._
This officer had been upwards of fifty years in the army when he
was appointed to the colonelcy of the FOURTEENTH Foot, his first
commission being dated the 25th of May, 1705. After serving the
Crown fifteen years, he was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy
of the Seventh Dragoons, by commission dated the 25th of June,
1720. In January, 1741, he was promoted to the colonelcy of
the Fifty-fourth (now Forty-third) regiment, which was then
first raised; and in August of the same year he was removed
to the Second, or Queen's Royal regiment. His commissions of
general officer were dated,--brigadier-general, 1st June, 1745;
major-general, 18th of September, 1747; and lieutenant-general,
30th of April, 1754. He was governor of Gibraltar in 1756, when the
island of Minorca, which was then subject to the British Crown, was
attacked by the French; and having disobeyed the directions, which
he received from the Secretary at War, to send a reinforcement to
that island, he was tried by a general court-martial, and sentenced
to be suspended for nine months; but the King, George II., directed
that he should be dismissed from the service.
CHARLES JEFFERIES.
_Appointed 7th September, 1756._
After a progressive service in the subordinate commissions, this
officer was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the FOURTEENTH Foot
on the 12th of September, 1745, and in February following he was
removed to the Thirty-fourth regiment. In January, 1756, he was
promoted to colonel-commandant of a battalion of the Sixty-second
Royal American regiment, now the Sixtieth, or King's Royal Rifle
Corps. At this period he was with the Thirty-fourth regiment at
the island of Minorca, which was soon afterwards attacked by the
French, and he signalized himself in the defence of Port Mahon,
particularly in repulsing an attack on the place by storm, on
which occasion he was taken prisoner. His gallantry was shortly
afterwards rewarded with the colonelcy of the FOURTEENTH regiment.
He was promoted to the rank of major-general on the 27th of June,
1759. He died in 1765.
THE HONORABLE WILLIAM KEPPEL.
_Appointed 31st May, 1765._
THE HONORABLE WILLIAM KEPPEL, fourth son of William-Anne, second
Earl of Albemarle, was appointed captain and lieutenant-colonel in
the First Foot Guards on the 28th of April, 1750; and gentleman
of the horse to His Majesty King George II. in December, 1752. On
the 21st of July, 1760, he was promoted to second major, with the
rank of colonel, in the First Foot Guards; and in December of the
following year, to the colonelcy of the Fifty-sixth Foot. In the
succeeding spring he proceeded with his regiment on an expedition
against the Havannah, with the local rank of major-general. In
August the Havannah capitulated, when he took possession of the
fort La Punta; and being afterwards left commander-in-chief at that
station, he re-delivered the city to the Spaniards according to the
conditions of the Treaty of Peace in 1763. He was promoted to the
rank of major-general on the 10th of July, 1762; was removed from
the colonelcy of the Fifty-sixth to the FOURTEENTH Foot in 1765;
and was advanced to the rank of lieutenant-general in May, 1772. In
1773 he was appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland. In 1775 he was
removed to the colonelcy of the Twelfth Dragoons. He was several
years a representative in parliament for the borough of Windsor.
His decease occurred on the 1st of March, 1782.
ROBERT CUNNINGHAME.
_Appointed 18th October, 1775._
This officer served several years in the Thirty-fifth Foot, in
which regiment he rose to the rank of captain in December, 1752. He
was soon afterwards appointed adjutant-general in Ireland, which
office he held for many years. He was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant-colonel in 1757;--to that of colonel in 1762;--and to
the colonelcy of the Fifty-eighth Regiment in 1767. In 1772 he was
advanced to the rank of major-general; three years afterwards he
was removed to the command of the FOURTEENTH Foot; and in August,
1777, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. On the
4th of April, 1787, he was removed to the colonelcy of the Fifth,
Royal Irish, Dragoons, and he was advanced to the rank of general
in 1793. He died in 1797.
JOHN DOUGLAS.
_Appointed April 4th, 1787._
JOHN DOUGLAS was many years an officer in the Scots' Greys,
with which corps he served several campaigns in the Netherlands
previously to the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748-9. He also
served with his regiment in Germany, under Prince Ferdinand of
Brunswick, from 1759 to 1762, distinguishing himself on several
occasions; and on the 14th of November, 1770, he was promoted to
the lieutenant colonelcy of the regiment (the Greys). In 1775 he
was appointed Aide-de-Camp to the King, with the rank of colonel
in the army;--in February, 1779, he was promoted to the rank of
major-general; and in April of the same year he obtained the
colonelcy of the Twenty-first Light Dragoons, which corps was then
first embodied. His regiment was disbanded at the conclusion of
the American war in 1783; and in 1787 he obtained the colonelcy
of the FOURTEENTH Foot; he was also promoted to the rank of
lieutenant-general in the same year. In 1789 he was removed to the
colonelcy of the Fifth Dragoon Guards, which he retained until his
decease in 1790.
GEORGE EARL WALDEGRAVE.
_Appointed 27th August, 1789._
VISCOUNT CHEWTON was appointed ensign in the Third Foot Guards
on the 10th of May, 1768; lieutenant and captain on the 12th of
August, 1773; and captain-lieutenant and lieutenant-colonel in the
Second Foot Guards in 1778. In the following year he was appointed
lieutenant-colonel commanding the Eighty-seventh Foot, then first
raised; and in 1782 he was promoted to the rank of colonel. He
succeeded, on the decease of his father, in 1784, to the dignity
of EARL WALDEGRAVE; and was also appointed master of the horse to
the Queen, and aide-de-camp to the King. In August, 1789, he was
appointed colonel of the FOURTEENTH Foot. He died about six weeks
afterwards.
GEORGE HOTHAM.
_Appointed 18th November, 1789._
GEORGE HOTHAM procured the appointment of ensign in the First
Foot Guards on the 14th of May, 1759; he was promoted to the rank
of lieutenant and captain in 1765; and to that of captain and
lieutenant-colonel in 1775. In 1781 he was appointed aide-de-camp
to the King, with the rank of colonel in the army; and in 1789 he
obtained the colonelcy of the FOURTEENTH Foot. His commissions of
general officer were dated,--major-general, 28th of April, 1790,
lieutenant-general, 26th of January, 1797, and general, 29th of
April, 1802. He died in 1806.
SIR HARRY CALVERT, BARONET, G.C.B.
_Appointed 8th February, 1806._
SIR HARRY CALVERT, Baronet, was appointed second lieutenant in
the Twenty-third, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, in April, 1778; he was
several months at the Royal Military College at Woolwich, and
proceeding to North America in the following year, he joined
his regiment, which was then employed on the outpost duty of
the army. In December, 1779, he served with his regiment in the
expedition, under Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Clinton, to South
Carolina, and was at the siege and capture of Charlestown. He
afterwards served under the Marquis Cornwallis, and shared in all
the difficulties, dangers, and privations, in the campaigns of
the southern provinces, until the siege of York Town, when the
Marquis Cornwallis was forced to surrender, with the troops under
his command, to General Washington. He remained a prisoner of war
from October, 1781, until the peace in 1783, when he proceeded with
his regiment to New York. In the early part of 1784 he returned
to England, when he procured permission to pass the remainder of
the year on the Continent. In October, 1786, he purchased the
command of a company in his regiment, with which he did duty
until the spring of 1790, when he exchanged into the Coldstream
Guards. On the breaking out of the war of the French revolution, in
1793, he proceeded with the brigade of Foot Guards, commanded by
Major-General (afterwards Lord) Lake, to Holland, and when the Duke
of York assumed the command of the British and Hanoverian troops in
Flanders, Captain Calvert was nominated one of His Royal Highness's
aides-de-camp. After serving in this capacity until the surrender
of Valenciennes, he was sent to England with the account of that
event, on which occasion King George III. was pleased to confer on
him the rank of major. He obtained the rank of lieutenant-colonel
in December, 1793, by the purchase of a company in the Coldstream
Guards. He served with the allied army during the year 1794, and
returned to England on the recall of the British troops early
in 1795. In May of that year he was employed on a confidential
mission to the court of Berlin; and in 1796 he was appointed Deputy
Adjutant-General to the Forces: he obtained the rank of colonel in
June 1797, and in 1799 he was appointed to the lieutenant-colonelcy
of the Sixty-third Regiment.
On the 9th of January, 1799, His Majesty was pleased to appoint
Colonel CALVERT to the important situation of ADJUTANT-GENERAL TO
THE FORCES, in which capacity he was enabled to perform important
and valuable services to the crown and to the country, during one
of the most eventful periods in the history of Great Britain.
In August, 1800 he was nominated to the colonelcy of the Fifth
West India regiment; in 1803 he was promoted to the rank of
major-general; in 1806 he was removed to the FOURTEENTH Foot, and
in 1810 he was advanced to the rank of lieutenant-general.
At the period of his appointment to the high and important
station of Adjutant-General of the Forces, the want of efficient
regulations, and of an adherence to a system founded on principles
calculated to promote the advantage of every branch of service,
was felt by all persons called upon to take a part in the concerns
of the army, and serious inconvenience was experienced from the
absence of such a system by His Royal Highness the Duke of York,
who, at two different periods, had to contend against powerful
continental armies, with troops, though eminently brave, and
endued with the true spirit of their profession, yet not formed
upon sound general principles of discipline. His Royal Highness,
being appointed Commander-in-Chief, applied himself with great
diligence to the correction of abuses, and to the improvement of
the condition of the army in every particular: and his efforts,
which were honoured with the encouragement and approbation of
His Majesty, were ably seconded by his staff officers, who were
judiciously selected to carry his views into effect; the ultimate
accomplishment of these objects reflected the highest credit on
those who planned, and on those who executed measures which have
conduced to the safety and glory of the United Kingdom and of its
numerous colonial possessions. Among these officers, SIR HARRY
CALVERT held a distinguished station. As Adjutant-General, the
discipline, equipment, and efficiency of the army came under his
superintendence, and to improve and perfect these, he devoted
his best energies and unwearied attention. The general orders
of the army, in the successive editions which were brought
forward from the year 1799, afford abundant proofs of the value
of his labours, in the numerous and excellent regulations made
from time to time for the better government of the army. In the
_clothing_, _messing_, _equipment_, and every other branch of
the interior economy, improvements were introduced to promote
the health and comfort of the soldier, and the efficiency of
corps; and the establishment of _confidential inspection reports_
facilitated the accomplishment of these objects, by furnishing
the Commander-in-Chief, and the authorities under him, with
the means of forming a correct judgment of the state of each
corps in all its details,--of correcting what was wrong,--of
supplying what was deficient, and of ascertaining the merits
and capabilities of the officers. The energies of his mind were
also directed to the improvement of the _morale_, as well as to
ameliorate the _materiel_ of the army. Being a man of high and
sensitive honor himself, he wished to inspire all his brother
officers with the same sentiments, by impressing them with a just
idea of what they owed to themselves, both as individuals, and
as members of the profession of arms. Conscious that no man can
be truly respectable who does not respect himself, he was always
anxious to uphold and encourage this principle; in accordance
with which, he was particularly careful to afford every officer
charged with misconduct the fullest opportunity of explanation,
and, in conveying disapprobation or censure, he avoided the use
of terms calculated to affect the officer's personal feelings,
or to degrade him in his own estimation: his verbal intercourse
was conducted on the same principle. Such was the kindness of his
look and demeanour, and the courtesy of his language, that it was
impossible to offer him any personal disrespect; and with whatever
sentiments a gentleman might have approached him in his official
capacity, he could retire with those only of respect and esteem. To
the officers of his own department, who were in daily intercourse
with him, his orders were conveyed in the form of requests; and
the urbanity of his manners, tempered with self-respect, ensured
prompt and cheerful co-operation. In so extensive a branch of the
service, the preparation of many documents was necessarily confided
to assistants, and the alterations which suggested themselves
to his refined discrimination, were proposed with delicacy,--a
trait of character grateful to the feelings of his subordinates,
and remembered with emotions of respect constantly increased by
continued intercourse. In 1807, when the _recruiting_ of the
army was placed under his superintendence, he applied himself
successfully to the improvement of that branch of the service.
He interested himself in the _Royal Military Asylum_, and in the
establishment of _regimental schools_; the condition of _general
hospitals_ also engaged his attention,--he visited them all in
1814, and suggested many improvements in their conduct and
management. The _invalid_ and the _pensioner_ found a friend and
protector in him, and the representations of a discharged private
soldier were received and considered with the same care as those
of the higher grades of the service. In this, and in every other
respect, he acted in accordance with the desires of the DUKE OF
YORK, whose innate goodness of heart, and natural generosity and
condescension, led him to promote and encourage every species of
kindness to the humblest members of the profession to which he was
so devotedly attached; and SIR HARRY CALVERT was the faithful organ
of His Royal Highness's benevolent intentions, delighting in the
good he was thus enabled to effect.
Having conducted, in conjunction with the able officers associated
with him in the other military departments, the details of the
British army, when it was on a scale of magnitude surpassing
anything previously known, and through the whole course of the most
tremendous contest in which the nation ever was engaged, and having
witnessed victory achieved, by the valour and discipline of the
troops under their matchless chief, with the glorious termination
of the war, he was rewarded with the dignity of BARONET, in
October, 1818; and in the beginning of the year 1820, he retired
from that high situation which he had so long and so ably filled,
carrying with him the cordial good wishes of every rank. He had
previously been appointed lieutenant-governor of Chelsea Hospital;
honored with the dignity of Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath,
and Grand Cross of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order; and in
1826, he was promoted to the rank of general. He died suddenly of a
fit of apoplexy, while on a visit with his family at Claydon Hall,
in Buckinghamshire, on the 3rd of September, 1826.
THOMAS LORD LYNEDOCH.
_Appointed 6th September, 1826._
This nobleman, whose services, when General Graham, were of a
most distinguished character, was removed to the First, or Royal,
Regiment of Foot, on the 12th of December, 1834, the colonelcy of
which corps he retained to the period of his decease, which took
place on the 18th December, 1843.
THE HONORABLE SIR CHARLES COLVILLE, G.C.B. and G.C.H.
_Appointed 12th December, 1834._
SIR CHARLES COLVILLE, whose distinguished services during the
late war are recorded in the history of Europe, was removed to
the colonelcy of the Fifth Regiment of Foot, or Northumberland
Fusiliers, on the 25th of March, 1835, in succession to General Sir
Henry Johnson, deceased. He died on the 27th March, 1843.
THE HONORABLE SIR ALEXANDER HOPE, G.C.B.
_Appointed 25th March, 1835._
THE HONORABLE ALEXANDER HOPE entered the army as ensign in the
Sixty-third Regiment, on the 6th of March, 1786, and after a
service of upwards of thirteen years he was promoted to the
lieutenant-colonelcy of the FOURTEENTH Foot, on the 27th of August,
1794. He commanded the regiment during its retreat through Holland,
and in the attack of the French post at Gueldermalsen, on the
8th of January, 1795, he received a wound in the shoulder which
deprived him of the use of his right arm. He was appointed governor
of Tynemouth and Clifford's fort, in 1797; lieutenant-governor
of Edinburgh Castle, in 1798; and deputy adjutant-general to the
expedition to Holland, in 1799. He was promoted to the rank of
colonel in the army, on the 1st of January, 1800; and to the
colonelcy of the Fifth West India Regiment, on the 30th of October,
1806. In April, 1808, he was further promoted to the rank of
major-general. In April, 1813, he was removed to the colonelcy of
the Forty-seventh Regiment; and in June of the same year, he was
advanced to the rank of lieutenant-general. He obtained the rank
of general, on the 22nd of July, 1830; and the colonelcy of the
FOURTEENTH Regiment, in 1835. He was constituted a Knight Grand
Cross of the Order of the Bath: he was lieutenant-governor of the
Royal Hospital at Chelsea: he died on the 19th of May, 1837.
SIR JAMES WATSON, K.C.B.