Gage, of Castle Island, in Ireland, having served some time in the
subordinate commissions, was appointed Major of the Forty-fourth
Foot in February, 1747, and he was further promoted to the
Lieut.-Colonelcy of the regiment on the 2nd of March, 1751. He
was serving with his regiment in America, when a dispute occurred
between Great Britain and France respecting the territory on the
banks of the Ohio, and he commanded the advance-guard of the forces
sent against Fort Du Quesne, which the French had built to command
the entrance into the country on the Ohio and Mississippi. In the
disastrous action on the 9th of July, 1755, Major-General Braddock
was killed and Lieut.-Colonel Honourable Thomas Gage was wounded.
He continued to serve in America, where he raised a provincial
regiment, which was numbered the Eightieth, Light-armed, Foot, of
which he was appointed Colonel in May, 1758: he was also appointed
Brigadier-General in North America, and the efforts of the army
effected the conquest of Canada, which has continued to form
part of the British dominions from that period. He was promoted
to the rank of Major-General in 1761, and in the same year he
performed the duty of Commander-in-Chief in North America, and
also succeeded Sir Jeffrey Amherst as Colonel-in-Chief of the
Sixteenth regiment, which he held two months, when Lieut.-General
Amherst was re-appointed. In March, 1762, he was appointed
Colonel of the Twenty-second Foot; and in April, 1770, he was
promoted to the rank of Lieut.-General. When the misunderstanding
between Great Britain and her North American colonies began to
assume a serious aspect, he was appointed Captain-General and
Governor-in-Chief of Massachusetts Bay, and he arrived at Boston
in May, 1774. Hostilities commenced in the following year, and his
active exertions to suppress the rebellion were rewarded in August,
1775, with the appointment of Commander-in-Chief in North America,
which he resigned in a few months afterwards. In April, 1782, he
was appointed Colonel of the SEVENTEENTH Light Dragoons; he was
promoted to the rank of General in November following, and in 1785
he was removed to the Eleventh Dragoons. He died in 1787.
THOMAS EARL OF LINCOLN,
_Appointed 4th February, 1785_.
LORD THOMAS PELHAM CLINTON, second son of Henry, ninth Earl of
Lincoln, and first Duke of Newcastle, chusing the profession of
arms, was appointed Captain and Lieut.-Colonel in the First Foot
Guards on the 5th of April, 1775, and, on the decease of his
brother, in 1778, he obtained the title of EARL OF LINCOLN. He was
promoted to the rank of Colonel in 1780, and in 1782 he obtained
the Colonelcy of the Seventy-fifth, or the Prince of Wales's
Regiment of Foot, which was disbanded at the termination of the
American war, in 1783. In 1785 he obtained the Colonelcy of the
SEVENTEENTH Light Dragoons; in 1787 he was promoted to the rank of
Major-General, and he succeeded to the dignity of DUKE OF NEWCASTLE
on the decease of his father, in 1794. He died in 1795.
OLIVER DE LANCEY,
_Appointed 20th May, 1795_.
OLIVER DE LANCEY descended from a respectable family settled in
North America. When a disposition to make themselves independent
appeared in the Colonies, he wrote a pamphlet entitled,
"Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes on the British
Colonies," which was first printed in America, and afterwards went
through the press several times in London. Proceeding to Great
Britain, he procured the commission of Cornet in the Fourteenth
Dragoons, in 1766, and in May, 1773, he was appointed Captain
in the SEVENTEENTH Light Dragoons, in which corps he remained
forty-nine years. In 1774 he was sent with despatches for the
Commander-in-Chief, and was directed to provide accommodation
for his regiment, which was then under orders for America; also
to provide remount horses for his corps and for the artillery
and other departments of the army. On arriving at Boston he was
sent to New York, to accomplish the objects of his mission; but,
hostilities commencing, he returned to Boston, where his regiment
arrived about the same time, and he remained at this place during
the blockade and bombardment, until it was evacuated in 1776,
when he proceeded to Halifax, and afterwards to Staten Island.
He commanded a squadron of the SEVENTEENTH on Long Island,
distinguished himself in the driving back of the American piquets,
and also at the battle of Brooklyn. Crossing the river to New
York he had further opportunities of signalizing himself, and in
the spring of 1777 he served in the Jerseys, where the squadron
under his orders had several rencounters with detachments of the
enemy. In the following winter he proceeded to Philadelphia,
was actively employed in the spring of 1778 in various services
in Pennsylvania, and was engaged in covering the march of the
army from thence to New York. On the 3rd of June, 1778, he was
promoted to the Majority of his regiment, which he commanded while
it was stationed on Long Island, and afterwards in the lines in
front of New York, where skirmishes occurred almost daily. He
was subsequently appointed Deputy Quarter-Master-General to the
expedition to South Carolina, where he served at the siege of
Charlestown, and in several expeditions under Earl Cornwallis;
and in 1781 he was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel, and
appointed Adjutant-General in America, in succession to Major John
André, who was made prisoner by the Americans and executed as a
spy. At the termination of the war he was appointed to arrange the
military claims made by persons who had served in America; and he
was placed at the head of a commission for settling the accounts
of the army during the war. In 1790 he was appointed Deputy
Adjutant-General, with the rank of Colonel in the army; in 1794 he
obtained the Lieut.-Colonelcy of the SEVENTEENTH Light Dragoons,
and was appointed Barrack-Master-General, which he held ten years;
he was also promoted to the rank of Major-General on the 3rd of
October, 1794. On the 20th of May, 1795, he was farther rewarded
with the Colonelcy of his regiment. He was promoted to the rank of
Lieut.-General in 1801, and to that of General in 1812. He was many
years a Member of Parliament. He died in September, 1822, after
serving the crown fifty-six years.
LORD ROBERT EDWARD HENRY SOMERSET, K.C.B.,
_Appointed 9th September, 1822_.
Removed to the Royal Dragoons in 1829, and to the Fourth, or
Queen's Own, Light Dragoons in 1836.
SIR JOHN ELLEY, K.C.B., K.C.H.,
_Appointed 23rd November, 1829_.
This officer was a native of Leeds, and, being intended for the
law, was articled to a solicitor in London; but preferring the
profession of arms, he enlisted at Leeds, on the 5th of November,
1789, as a private trooper in the Royal Horse Guards (Blues).
His conduct was generally approved of by his officers, and his
attachment to the army remaining undiminished, his father enabled
him to purchase the appointment of Quartermaster of a troop in
the following year, namely, on the 4th of June, 1790; he was
promoted to a Cornetcy, by purchase, on the 6th of June, 1794.
He accompanied the four troops of the Blues to Flanders in 1793,
as Acting Adjutant; and serving under His Royal Highness the
Duke of York, he was present at several engagements, where the
Blues distinguished themselves, particularly at Cateau on the
26th of April, 1794, where Acting Adjutant Elley evinced signal
gallantry. He served with his regiment in the retreat through
Holland to Germany, and, returning to England in November, 1795,
he was promoted to a Lieutenantcy, by purchase, on the 26th of
January, 1796. The rank of Captain-Lieutenant was conferred on
this meritorious officer on the 24th of October, 1799, and he
was promoted to Captain of a troop, by purchase, on the 26th of
February, 1801. He was employed as Aide-de-camp to Major-General
Staveley on the Staff of Great Britain, when the country was
threatened with invasion by Buonaparte. He was promoted, by
purchase, to Major of the Royal Horse Guards on the 29th of
November, 1804, and to Lieut.-Colonel, by purchase, on the 6th of
March, 1808. In 1808 he served as Assistant Adjutant-General to the
cavalry of the army, which advanced into Spain under Lieut.-General
Sir John Moore, and was at the cavalry action at Sahagun, where
the Fifteenth Hussars highly distinguished themselves; also at
Benevente, where the French Imperial Guards were driven across
the Esla with severe loss. Lieut.-Colonel Elley was also present
at several other skirmishes, and at the battle of Corunna. The
appointment of Assistant Adjutant-General to the cavalry of the
British army in Portugal and Spain was held by Lieut.-Colonel
Elley from 1809 to 1814; he proved a most valuable officer, and
performed the duties of his situation with great ability during
those arduous campaigns, in which the British troops gained many
honours. He was present at most of the battles in Portugal,
Spain, and France, until the power of Buonaparte was subdued and
the Bourbon dynasty was restored to the throne of France. He
received several severe wounds, particularly at Salamanca, where
he narrowly escaped being taken prisoner; he was promoted to
the rank of Colonel on the 7th of March, 1813: in 1815 he was
appointed Assistant Adjutant-General to the cavalry of the army in
Flanders, under His Grace the Duke of Wellington, and served at the
battle of Waterloo[9]. He was rewarded with a silver medal for the
battle of Waterloo; a cross and three clasps for the battles of
Sahagun, Benevente, Talavera, Fuentes d'Onor, Salamanca, Vittoria,
Orthes, and Toulouse. He was also constituted Knight Commander of
the Order of the Bath; Knight Commander of the Royal Hanoverian
Guelphic Order; Knight of Maria Theresa of Austria; Knight of St.
George of Russia (fourth class). He was promoted to the rank of
Major-General on the 12th of August, 1819; in 1821 he was appointed
Governor of Galway, and in 1829 he was rewarded with the Colonelcy
of the SEVENTEENTH LANCERS: in 1837 he was promoted to the rank
of Lieut.-General. He died on the 28th of January, 1839, at his
residence, near Andover, and was interred at the Chapel Royal, at
Windsor.
SIR JOSEPH STRATTON, K.C.H.,
_Appointed 28th January, 1839_.
Removed to the Eighth, or the King's Royal Irish, Regiment of Light
Dragoons, Hussars, on the 24th of August, 1839.
SIR ARTHUR BENJAMIN CLIFTON, K.C.B., K.C.H.,
_Appointed 24th August, 1839_.
LONDON: HARRISON AND CO., PRINTERS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE.
FOOTNOTE:
[9] In Scott's _Letters to his Kinsfolk_ it is recorded of Sir John
Elley, that there were found, on the field of Waterloo, more than
one of Napoleon's cuirassiers cleft to the chine by the stalwart
arm of this gallant officer.
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,
advance-guard, advance guard; patrole; piquets; promptitude.
Pg 10, 'from Lientenant' replaced by 'from Lieutenant'.
Pg 48, 'of Rio de Janiero' replaced by 'of Rio de Janeiro'.
Pg 65, 'under the commmand' replaced by 'under the command'.
Pg 78, 'duty of Commmander-' replaced by 'duty of Commander-'.