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This is a list of general officers of the British Armed Forces who were killed or died while on active service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . This comprises the period of 1793–1815, and includes British general officers who were serving in the British Army or attached to the allied Portuguese Army . Officers of the rank of colonel are included if they were acting in the position of a general officer, that being a brigade or larger, at the time of their death, despite them not themselves being general officers. Officers are also included if they had recently left a command at the time of their death, and their active service was the cause of it.
Background [ edit ]
The death and injury rate of senior officers fighting in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars was unusually high. General officers of the period regularly demonstrated their courage and served to the forefront in battles, placing themselves in positions of high jeopardy. Sanitary and living conditions on military campaigns in the period were also poor, leading to a number of general officers succumbing to illness and disease while on service.
The historian Rory Muir contrasts this style of service for British general officers with that of their successors fighting in the First World War , saying that the added risks officers of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars put themselves in meant that their troops "never felt the alienation from their senior officers which developed during the First World War". The highest rate of death among general officers occurred during the Peninsular War , where fifteen per cent who served were killed, having a sixty per cent higher chance of dying than their junior officers.
Generals [ edit ]
Lieutenant-Generals [ edit ]
Major-Generals [ edit ]
Image
Name
Branch
Date of death
Cause of death
Location
Command
References
John Mansel
British Army
26 April 1794
Hostile fire (small arms)
Beaumont , France
Brigade of Dragoons , Flanders campaign
Thomas Dundas
British Army
3 June 1794
Yellow fever
Basseterre , Guadeloupe
Governor of Guadeloupe, West Indies campaign
William Clephane
British Army
4 November 1803
Illness
Grenada , West Indies
Lieutenant-Governor of Grenada
[19]
Patrick Wauchope
British Army
31 March 1807
Hostile fire (small arms)
Rosetta , Egypt
Second-in-command, Alexandria expedition
John Randoll Mackenzie
British Army
28 July 1809
Hostile fire (small arms)
Talavera , Spain
3rd Division
Coote Manningham
British Army
26 August 1809
Fatigue
Britain (fatigue caused on active service)
3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Coruña campaign
Richard Stewart
British Army
19 October 1810
Fell off balcony while delirious with eye infection
Lisbon , Portugal
Brigade, 2nd Division
Daniel Hoghton
British Army
16 May 1811
Hostile fire (small arms)
Albuera , Spain
Brigade, 2nd Division (had replaced Stewart)
Henry MacKinnon
British Army
19 January 1812
Hostile fire (magazine explosion)
Ciudad Rodrigo , Spain
Brigade, 3rd Division
Robert Craufurd
British Army
24 January 1812
Hostile fire (small arms)
Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain
Light Division
Barnard Foord Bowes
British Army
23 June 1812
Hostile fire (small arms)
Salamanca , Spain
Brigade, 6th Division
John Le Marchant
British Army
22 July 1812
Hostile fire (small arms)
Salamanca, Spain
Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division
William Wheatley
British Army
1 September 1812
Typhus
San Lorenzo de El Escorial , Spain
Brigade, 1st Division
Richard Hulse
British Army
7 September 1812
Typhus
Arévalo , Spain
5th Division
Andrew Ross
British Army
26 September 1812
Fever
Cartagena , Spain
Cartagena garrison
Sir Isaac Brock
British Army
13 October 1812
Hostile fire (small arms)
Queenston , Upper Canada
Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada
Sir William Erskine
British Army
13 February 1813
Suicide by jumping out of a window
Lisbon, Portugal
2nd Cavalry Division
William Frederick Spry
Portuguese Army
16 January 1814
Illness[Note 2]
Southampton , Britain (illness caught on active service)
3rd Portuguese Brigade, 5th Division
[42]
Eberhardt Otto George von Bock
British Army
21 January 1814
Drowned
At sea, off Pleubian , France
Heavy Dragoon Brigade, King's German Legion
John Byne Skerrett
British Army
10 March 1814
Hostile fire (small arms)
Bergen op Zoom , Netherlands
Brigade, Bergen op Zoom
Andrew Hay
British Army
14 April 1814
Hostile fire
Bayonne , France
Brigade, 1st Division
Robert Ross
British Army
12 September 1814
Hostile fire (small arms)
North Point , United States
Brigade, United States
Sir Robert Rollo Gillespie
British Army
31 October 1814
Hostile fire (small arms)
Kalunga, India
Meerut Division, Bengal Army
Sir Samuel Gibbs
British Army
8 January 1815
Hostile fire
New Orleans , United States
Second-in-command, New Orleans expedition
Sir Edward Pakenham
British Army
8 January 1815
Hostile fire (small arms)
New Orleans, United States
New Orleans expedition
Sir William Ponsonby
British Army
18 June 1815
Hostile fire (small arms)[Note 3]
Waterloo , Belgium
2nd Cavalry Brigade , Cavalry Corps
Brigadier-Generals [ edit ]
Image
Name
Branch
Date of death
Cause of death
Location
Command
References
Richard Symes
British Army
19 July 1794
Hostile fire (small arms)[Note 4]
Saint Kitts , West Indies
Brigade, Invasion of Guadeloupe , West Indies campaign
Stephens Howe
British Army
20 July 1796
Yellow fever
Port Royal , Jamaica
[56]
John Henry Yorke
British Army
1 November 1805
Drowned
At sea, off Brazil
Royal Artillery , Cape of Good Hope expedition
Robert Anstruther
British Army
14 January 1809
Pneumonia
Coruña , Spain
1st Brigade, Reserve Division, Coruña campaign
Ernst Eberhard Cuno Langwerth von Simmern [de ]
British Army
28 July 1809
Hostile fire (grapeshot )
Talavera , Spain
3rd Brigade, 1st Division
James Catlin Craufurd
British Army
25 September 1810
Malaria
Abrantes , Portugal
Brigade, 2nd Division
William Campbell
Portuguese Army
2 January 1811
Illness
Trocifal, Lines of Torres Vedras , Portugal
5th Portuguese Brigade
Charles Millar
Portuguese Army
February 1811
Illness
Portugal
Portuguese Militia
George Drummond
British Army
8 September 1811
Trench mouth
Fuenteguinaldo , Spain
2nd Brigade, Light Division
Francis Colman
Portuguese Army[Note 5]
12 December 1811
Fever
Lisbon , Portugal
6th Portuguese Brigade, 7th Division
[66]
Richard Collins
Portuguese Army
17 February 1813
Exhaustion
Gouveia , Portugal
6th Portuguese Brigade, 7th Division
William Harvey
Portuguese Army
10 June 1813
Illness[Note 6]
At sea, en route to Britain
9th Portuguese Brigade, 4th Division
Arthur Gore
British Army
8/9 March 1814
Hostile fire
Bergen op Zoom , Netherlands
Brigade, Bergen op Zoom
Colonels [ edit ]
Notes and citations [ edit ]
Citations [ edit ]
^ Thorne, R. G. "MACLEAN CLEPHANE, William Douglas (1759-1803), of Kirkness, Kinross" . The History of Parliament . Retrieved 27 April 2022 .
^ "Portsmouth, Saturday, January 29, 1814". Hampshire/Portsmouth Telegraph . Leeds, England. 31 January 1814.
^ Thorne, R. G. "Howe, Stephens (1758–96), of 22 Marley Street, Mdx" . The History of Parliament . Retrieved 2 February 2023 .
^ Bremner, Robert (2012). "Brigadier Francis John Colman: His Death in Lisbon and its Consequences" . The British Historical Society of Portugal . Retrieved 2 April 2022 .
^ "Colonel James Wynch" . King's Own Royal Regiment Museum Lancaster . 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2022 .
References [ edit ]
Brown, Steve (2018). By Fire and Bayonet: Grey's West Indies Campaign of 1794 . Solihull: Helion. ISBN 978-1-91286-694-6 .
Burnham, Robert; McGuigan, Ron (2010). The British Army against Napoleon . Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1-84832-562-3 .
Burke, John ; Burke, John Bernard (1844). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland, and Scotland . London: John Russell Smith.
Cannon, Richard (1842). Historical Record of the Eighty-Sixth, or The Royal County Down Regiment of Foot . London: John W. Parker.
Chichester, H. M.; Lunt, James (2004). "Gillespie, Sir Robert Rollo" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Clayton, Tim (2015). Waterloo: Four Days that Changed Europe's Destiny . London: Abacus. ISBN 978-0-349-12301-1 .
Gaudencio, Moises; Burnham, Robert (2021). In the Words of Wellington's Fighting Cocks: The After-Action Reports of the Portuguese Army during the Peninsular War 1812–1814 . Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-52676-168-2 .
Gates, David (2007). "Abercromby, Sir Ralph, of Tullibody" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Glover, Michael (2001). Wellington as Military Commander . London: Penguin Books.
Haythornthwaite, Philip J. (1996). Die Hard! Dramatic Actions from the Napoleonic Wars . London: Arms and Armour. ISBN 1-85409-245-6 .
Heathcote, T. A. (2010). Wellington's Peninsular War Generals & Their Battles . Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-84884-061-4 .
Houlding, J. A. (2008). "Dundas, Thomas" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Howard, Martin R. (2015). Death Before Glory! The British Soldier in the West Indies in the French Revolutionary & Napoleonic Wars . Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-78159-341-7 .
Lloyd, E. M.; Gates, David (2005). "Hoghton, Daniel" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Maclean, John (1868). Parochial and Family History of the Parish of Blisland in the County of Cornwall . London: Nichols and Sons.
McGuigan, Ron; Burnham, Robert (2017). Wellington's Brigade Commanders . Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-47385-079-8 .
Muir, Rory (2000). Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon . London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-30014-768-1 .
Pocock, Tom (2005). Stopping Napoleon . London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-6604-5 .
Rapson, E. J.; Harfield, Alan (2008). "Gibbs, Sir Samuel" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Reid, Stuart (2019). Wellington's History of the Peninsular War . Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1-52673-764-9 .
Soulsby, B. H.; Stearn, Roger T. (2004). "Ross, Andrew" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Sweetman, John (2004a). "Brock, Sir Isaac" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Sweetman, John (2004b). "Cadogan, Henry" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Sweetman, John (2011). "Moore, Sir John" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Thomas, Peter D. G. (2008). "Vaughan, Sir John" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Ward, S. G. P. (Summer 1975). "The Portuguese Infantry Brigades, 1809–1814". Journal of the Society for Army History Research . 53 (214): 103–112.