Part 7

This distinguished officer was the son of General the first Lord Harris, and entered the army as an ensign in the seventy-sixth regiment of infantry, on the 24th of May, 1795; was promoted lieutenant in the thirty-sixth regiment on the 3rd of January, 1796, from which he was removed to the seventy-fourth Highlanders on the 4th of September following, and joined in India in 1797. Lieutenant Harris served at the battle of Mallavelly on the 27th of March, 1799, and during the campaign under his father, Lord Harris, which led to the capture of Seringapatam, and was in nearly all the affairs, out-posts, and in the storming party on the 4th of May, 1799, which carried that fortress, where Lieutenant Harris was one of the first to enter the breach, for which he was commended on the spot by Major-General (afterwards Sir David) Baird. Being sent home with the captured standards, Lieutenant Harris had the honor of presenting them to His Majesty King George III., and was promoted to a company in the forty-ninth regiment, on the 16th of October, 1800, which he joined at Jersey, and embarking with it towards the end of the year for England, was wrecked on the passage off Guernsey. Captain Harris afterwards accompanied his regiment in the expedition to the Baltic under the command of Admiral Parker and Vice-Admiral Nelson, and was present in the “Glatton” frigate in the desperate action off Copenhagen on the 2nd of April, 1801. In 1802, Captain Harris embarked with the forty-ninth regiment for Canada, and served in the upper province for two years; being then appointed to a majority in the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, he proceeded to join that corps in India, and on his way out was employed at the capture of the Cape of Good Hope in January, 1806, and was present at the action of Blue Berg. The SEVENTY-THIRD having quitted India previously to his arrival, he returned to England the same year, and found he had succeeded to the lieut.-colonelcy of that regiment. Upon the formation of the second battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD, which was placed on the establishment of the army from the 24th of December, 1808, Lieut.-Colonel Harris was appointed to the command of it, and zealously applied himself to perfecting its discipline, and rendering it efficient in every respect. In 1813, Lieut.-Colonel Harris embarked on a particular service with the second battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, but afterwards joined the expedition to Stralsund, in Swedish Pomerania, under Major-General Samuel Gibbs. On arrival Lieut.-Colonel Harris was selected to take the field with his battalion, and place himself under the orders of Lieut.-General Count Wallmoden, and was present in the action of the Gorde (in which he highly distinguished himself), under that commander, on the 16th of September, 1813. In November, 1813, the second battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD re-embarked in the Gulf of Lubec for England; but on arriving at Yarmouth, it was ordered, without landing, to join the army of General Sir Thomas Graham (afterwards Lord Lynedoch) in Holland. During the winter campaign before Antwerp, rendered more difficult in consequence of the severity of the weather, Lieut.-Colonel Harris had the honor of carrying the village of Merxem by storm, under the eye of His late Majesty King William IV., then Duke of Clarence, and, during the remainder of the operations, was employed as brigadier-general. After the peace of 1814, when Antwerp was delivered up, Colonel Harris, to which rank he had been promoted on the 4th of June, 1814, was quartered in that town, and remained in the Low Countries with his battalion during the remainder of the year 1814, and the early part of 1815. On the return of Napoleon from Elba, Colonel Harris joined the army of the Duke of Wellington, and his battalion was appointed to the brigade commanded by Major-General Sir Colin Halkett, and took part in the stubborn contest of the 16th of June, 1815, at _Quatre Bras_,--assisted in covering the retreat on the 17th; and on the 18th of June, at _Waterloo_, bore a gallant part in the complete defeat of Napoleon in that memorable battle. Colonel Harris, late in the afternoon, received a shot through the right shoulder, from which severe wound he continued to suffer at times for the remainder of his life. On retiring on half-pay, a testimony of admiration and regard was presented to him by the officers of his battalion in the shape of a splendid sword. On the 19th of July, 1821, Colonel Harris was advanced to the rank of Major-General. Major-General the Honorable William George Harris was employed on the staff of the army in Ireland from the 17th of May, 1823, until the 24th of June, 1825, when he was appointed to the command of the northern district of Great Britain, which he retained until the 24th of July, 1828, and contributed materially in quelling the disturbances in the manufacturing districts. On the decease of his father, Lord Harris, in 1829, he succeeded to the title, and from that period lived in retirement at Belmont, the family seat, near Feversham in Kent. On the 3rd of December, 1832, Major-General Lord Harris was appointed colonel of the eighty-sixth regiment, and was removed to the SEVENTY-THIRD on the 4th of December, 1835. In January, 1837, Lord Harris was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-General. His decease occurred at Belmont, after a short illness, on the 30th of May, 1845. Lord Harris was a Knight Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, a Companion of the Bath, and a Knight of the Order of William of Holland.

SIR ROBERT HENRY DICK, K.C.B., & K.C.H.

_Appointed 10th June, 1845._

This officer commenced his military career as ensign in the seventy-fifth regiment, his commission being dated 22nd of November, 1800, from which he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the sixty-second foot, on the 27th of June, 1802; was appointed to the ninth battalion of reserve on the 20th of December, 1803, and removed to the forty-second Royal Highland regiment on the 5th of January of the following year. Lieutenant Dick was promoted to the rank of Captain in the seventy-eighth regiment on the 17th of April, 1804, and embarked with the second battalion of that corps for Sicily in 1806; in the battle of Maida, which was fought on the 4th of July, 1806, Captain Dick was wounded; was also present at the taking of the fortress of Catrone in Calabria. Admiral Sir John Duckworth having failed in his mission to detach Turkey from the interests of France, Great Britain determined to seize upon Egypt, as a check to any fresh demonstration by the French against the British possessions in the East Indies, and an armament sailed from Sicily in February, 1807, and landed at Aboukir on the 18th of the following month. This expedition was under the command of Major-General Alexander Mackenzie Fraser, the colonel of the seventy-eighth Highlanders, and Captain Dick was embarked with the second battalion of that regiment. On the 21st of March, 1807, Alexandria was occupied by the British troops; this was the anniversary of the celebrated battle fought there in 1801, when the gallant General Sir Ralph Abercromby received the wound which terminated his career. A force of fifteen hundred men was afterwards detached against Rosetta, before which place Captain Dick was severely wounded. Egypt was evacuated by the British in September, 1807, and the troops returned to Sicily. Captain Dick was promoted to the rank of Major on the 24th of April, 1808, and was appointed to the forty-second Royal Highlanders on the 14th of July following. Major Dick embarked with the second battalion of the forty-second regiment for the Peninsula in June, 1809, and commanded a light battalion at the battle of Busaco on the 27th of September, 1810, and during the retreat to the lines of Torres Vedras; also in the action at Foz D’Aronce on the 15th of March, 1811, where he was wounded; and at the battle of Fuentes d’Onor on the 3rd and 5th of May following. During the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, which was captured on the 19th of January, 1812, Major Dick served with the second battalion of the forty-second regiment, and also at the third siege of Badajoz, which was taken on the 6th of April following. On the first battalion of the forty-second joining the army in the Peninsula towards the end of April, 1812, the soldiers of the second battalion fit for duty were transferred to the former, and the officers and staff of the latter returned to England to recruit. He commanded a light battalion at the battle of Salamanca on the 22nd of July, 1812. At the storming of Fort St. Michael, near Burgos, on the 19th of September, Major Dick commanded the first battalion of the forty-second, and his conduct was commended in the Marquis of Wellington’s public despatch. The siege of the Castle of Burgos was afterwards commenced, but the concentration of the enemy’s forces obliged the British commander to raise the siege and retire to Salamanca, and subsequently to Ciudad Rodrigo. On the 8th of October, 1812, Major Dick was promoted to the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel. In January 1813, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Dick returned to England on two months’ leave of absence, and joined the second battalion, which, after its return from the Peninsula in 1812, had remained in North Britain, until it was disbanded after the termination of the war in 1814.

During the campaign of 1815, Lieut.-Colonel Dick served with the forty-second regiment, and after the death of Lieut.-Colonel Sir Robert Macara, K.C.B., at Quatre Bras on the 16th of June of that year, the command of the regiment devolved on Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Dick, who was slightly wounded in the hip and severely in the left shoulder. He was promoted to be lieut.-colonel of the forty-second regiment on the 18th of June, 1815, the date of the battle of Waterloo, for which he received a medal, in addition to the medal and two clasps conferred on him for the battles of Busaco, Fuentes d’Onor, and Salamanca, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

Lieut.-Colonel Dick was promoted to the rank of colonel on the 27th of May, 1825, on being appointed aide-de-camp to King George IV., and in November, 1828, exchanged from the forty-second regiment to the half-pay unattached. On the 10th of January, 1837, Colonel Dick was promoted to the rank of major-general, and on the 19th of July, 1838, was nominated a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. From December 1838 to July 1842, Major-General Sir Robert Dick served upon the staff of the army at Madras, and was afterwards removed to the Presidency of Bengal. Major-General Sir Robert Dick was appointed by Her Majesty to be colonel of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment on the 10th of June, 1845.

Upon the invasion of the British territories in India by the Sikhs in the beginning of December 1845, Major-General Sir Robert Dick was appointed to the command of the third infantry division of the “_Army of the Sutlej_,” and after sharing in the battle of Moodkee on the 18th of December, and that of Ferozeshah on the 21st and 22nd of the same month, was wounded by a grape-shot at Sobraon on the 10th of February, 1846, while personally animating the troops under his command, from the effects of which he died in the evening of that day. This victory brought the operations in the field to a close, and the Sikh city of Lahore was occupied by the British troops, where a treaty was concluded which was considered calculated to prevent the repetition of a similar outrage.

SIR JOHN GREY, K.C.B.

_Appointed 3rd April, 1846._

Removed to the fifth Fusiliers on the 18th May, 1849.

RICHARD GODDARD HARE CLARGES, C.B.

_Appointed 18th May, 1849._

APPENDIX.

_Memoir of the Services of Major-General Lachlan Macquarie, formerly Lieut.-Colonel of the_ SEVENTY-THIRD _regiment_.

Major-General Lachlan Macquarie entered the army on the 9th of April, 1777, as ensign in the late eighty-fourth regiment, (which was disbanded in 1784), and performed garrison duty at Halifax, and other parts of Nova Scotia, for four years, namely, from the year 1777 to 1781. On the 18th of January, 1781, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the late seventy-first regiment, and did garrison duty at New York and Charleston, in North America, and in the island of Jamaica for three years. He was placed on half-pay on the 4th of June, 1784, and was appointed lieutenant in the seventy-seventh regiment on the 25th of December, 1787, and promoted to the rank of captain on the 9th of November, 1788. Captain Macquarie served in various parts of India, from the 3rd of August, 1788, to the 1st of January, 1803; was present at the sieges of Cannanore, in 1790, at Seringapatam in 1791, at Cochin in 1795, and at Colombo, in Ceylon, in 1796. As a reward for his services he had received the brevet rank of major on the 3rd of May, 1796, and continued to serve in various parts of India, during the above-mentioned periods. Brevet Major Macquarie was present at the battle of Seedaseer on the 6th of March, 1799, and at the siege of Seringapatam in April and May following. Brevet Major Macquarie was afterwards employed on service in Malabar, and on the 12th of March, 1801, was promoted from the seventy-seventh to the eighty-sixth regiment. Major Macquarie proceeded with the eighty-sixth and other regiments ordered to embark from India, under Major-General David Baird, to join the army in Egypt, and was present at the siege of Alexandria in August, 1801. In November following he was promoted to the brevet rank of lieut.-colonel. He served at home as Assistant Adjutant-General on the London District Staff, from July, 1803, until March, 1805; and afterwards in India, with the eighty-sixth regiment in the field in 1805 and 1806. On the 30th of May, 1805, he was appointed lieut.-colonel in the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, which corps he returned home to join in 1807, and in May, 1809, embarked with his regiment for New South Wales, of which colony, and its dependencies, he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief. On the 25th July, 1810, he was advanced to the brevet rank of colonel, was appointed brigadier-general on the 21st of February, 1811, and promoted major-general on the 4th of June, 1813. His decease occurred in July, 1824.

_Memoir of the Services of Lieut.-General Sir Maurice Charles O’Connell, K.C.H., formerly Lieut.-Colonel of the_ SEVENTY-THIRD _regiment_.

This officer, after serving with the rank of captain in the emigrant army under the Duke of Brunswick in the campaign of 1792, entered the British army sent to the Continent on the breaking out of the war in 1793. He was appointed captain in the fourth regiment of the late Irish brigade on the 1st of October, 1794, and was placed on half-pay on the 1st of March, 1798, on the reduction of that regiment; he was appointed captain in the first West India regiment on the 21st of May, 1800, and joined shortly afterwards at St. Lucia; Captain O’Connell was appointed major of brigade to the forces at Surinam in February, 1802, and served in that colony until its restoration to the Dutch in December of that year, when he joined his regiment at St. Vincent. In May, 1803, he proceeded in command of five companies to Grenada, whence he was ordered with the whole of the regiment to Dominica in 1804. On the 1st of January, 1805, he received the brevet rank of major. He commanded the light company at Roseau, in Dominica, when an attack was made on that capital on the 22nd of February, 1805, by a French force commanded by General La Grange, and successfully resisted, during the whole day, repeated attacks made by very superior numbers of the enemy on the posts occupied by Brevet Major O’Connell, with the forty-sixth regiment, his own company of the first West India regiment, and some colonial militia. He had been appointed major of brigade to the forces at Dominica in February, 1805, and on the 23rd of May following, was appointed major of the fifth West India regiment. In September he returned to England. For his services in the defence of Dominica, Major O’Connell received the thanks of the House of Assembly in that island, and was presented by that body with a sword, value one hundred guineas; he also received a sword, value fifty pounds, and a piece of plate, value one hundred pounds, from the committee of the Patriotic Fund at Lloyd’s. On the 15th of October, 1806, Major O’Connell was appointed to the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, in which he was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel on the 4th of May, 1809, and was appointed Lieut.-Governor of New South Wales, where he continued until April, 1814, in which month he embarked in command of the first battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment for Ceylon. In January, 1815, Lieut.-Colonel O’Connell marched in command of a division of the army under Lieut.-General Robert Brownrigg into the territories of the King of Candy, the conquest of which was achieved in forty days, and crowned by the capture of the reigning monarch, who was deposed by his own subjects, and brought a prisoner to Colombo. On the 12th of August, 1819, Lieut.-Colonel O’Connell was promoted to the rank of colonel, and to that of major-general on the 22nd of July, 1830. In 1838, Major-General O’Connell was appointed to the command of the troops in New South Wales, which appointment he held from December of that year until December, 1847. On the 23rd of November, 1841, Sir Maurice O’Connell was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general, and was appointed colonel of the eighty-first regiment on the 6th of December, 1842, from which he was removed to the eightieth regiment on the 15th of January, 1844. The decease of Lieut.-General Sir Maurice Charles O’Connell, K.C.H., occurred at Sydney, in New South Wales, on the 25th of May, 1848.

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.

Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added, when a predominant preference was found in the original book.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.

Pg x: ‘the military foree’ replaced by ‘the military force’. Pg xxxii (APPENDIX): The third entry ‘British and Hanoverian ... 73’ does not exist. The last page of the book is numbered ‘71’. Pg 12: ‘above eSringapatam’ replaced by ‘above Seringapatam’. Pg 39: Missing Sidenote for ‘1843’ inserted at the start of the paragraph ‘During the year 1843 ...’. Pg 40: Sidenotes for ‘1848’ and ‘1849’ moved down to the next paragraph. Pg 59: ‘appointed Govenor’ replaced by ‘appointed Governor’.