Part 12

This officer commenced his military career as Ensign in the late Ninety-first regiment, to which he was appointed on the 6th of December 1779, and in January following proceeded with it to the West Indies. After serving for a year at St. Lucia, Ensign Airey returned home, on account of ill-health, a short time previously to the regiment being drafted, in which, however, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on the 6th of July 1781. Lieutenant Airey exchanged from the Ninety-first to the Forty-eighth regiment on the 2nd of January 1782, and in January 1788 proceeded with the latter corps to the West Indies. On the 19th of November following he was promoted to a company in the Forty-eighth, and returned to England on leave of absence, but rejoined the regiment in 1792. Prior to the expedition against the French West India Islands under General Sir Charles (afterwards Earl) Grey in the beginning of 1794, the Forty-eighth regiment was drafted, when Captain Airey volunteered his services, and was employed in the succeeding campaign, during which he commanded the light company of the Sixty-fifth regiment, in the third battalion of Light Infantry. On the conclusion of the campaign he rejoined his regiment at Plymouth in October 1794. In December Captain Airey re-embarked with the regiment for the West Indies, but, from sickness, it was with several others re-landed. He was subsequently appointed Aide-de-camp to Lieut.-General Patrick Tonyn, with whom he remained until the Forty-eighth regiment was ordered on foreign service, and with which, in the winter of 1795, he sailed to the West Indies, serving there as Assistant Adjutant-General. He was promoted to a majority in the Sixty-eighth regiment on the 1st of May 1796, and returned to England, and on the 4th of May 1798 was advanced to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel of the Eighth Foot. In May 1799, Lieut.-Colonel Airey proceeded with the Eighth regiment to Minorca, which had been captured in the previous year from the Spaniards, and in August 1800 he embarked with his corps, which composed part of the expedition under General Sir Ralph Abercromby, against Cadiz. Upon arrival at that place the enterprise was abandoned, in consequence of a contagious disease carrying off great numbers of the inhabitants, and the fleet, to avoid infection, sailed to Gibraltar, and subsequently to Malta, when Lieut.-Colonel Airey returned to Minorca as Deputy Quartermaster-General, under Lieut.-General the Honorable Henry Edward Fox, and afterwards proceeded to Elba, as Commandant of the British troops serving in Porto Ferrajo, while that place was besieged by the French, and retained possession of that island until the Peace of Amiens in 1802. For his services in Porto Ferrajo he was created a Knight of the Tuscan Order of St. Joseph. Lieut.-Colonel Airey then rejoined Lieut.-General Fox as Deputy Quartermaster-General, and remained with that officer until his return to England, Minorca being restored to Spain by the treaty of peace. Lieut.-Colonel Airey served as Assistant Quartermaster-General in Ireland from the 1st of August 1803 to the 24th of September 1804, when he accompanied General the Honorable Henry Edward Fox to Gibraltar as Military Secretary. He proceeded with the General to Sicily in 1806, where (with the exception of going to Egypt with the expedition under Major-General Alexander Fraser in 1807) he served until the year 1813 as Deputy Adjutant-General. On the 25th of April 1808, he was promoted to the brevet rank of Colonel. In the year 1810 he commanded a brigade in Sicily, in addition to his duties as Deputy Adjutant-General, and was employed with the troops, of which the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH formed part, in the defence of the coast during the threatened invasion of General Joachim Murat, King of Naples. On the 12th of February 1811, Colonel Airey was appointed Brigadier-General in Sicily, when he vacated the duties of Deputy Adjutant-General. On the 4th of June 1811, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General, and was from that date appointed Major-General on the staff of Sicily, and in December following was ordered to proceed to Zante to take the command of the Ionian Islands, where he remained until succeeded by Lieut.-General James Campbell in 1813, who was appointed Commander and Civil Commissioner.

Major-General Airey was appointed Quartermaster-General to the forces in Ireland on the 2nd of September 1813, which he held until the 24th of June 1822. On the 19th of July 1821, he had been advanced to the rank of Lieut.-General. He had also received the honor of knighthood, and had been constituted a Knight Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order. On the 28th of October 1823, Lieut.-General Sir George Airey, K.C.H., was appointed by His Majesty King George IV. to be Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, which he retained until his decease at Paris on the 18th of February 1833.

THE HONORABLE SIR ROBERT WILLIAM O’CALLAGHAN, G.C.B.

_Appointed 4th March 1833._

The above-named officer was appointed Ensign in the One hundred and twenty-eighth regiment (since disbanded), on the 29th of November 1794; and on the 6th of December following, was promoted Lieutenant in the Thirtieth light dragoons, in which regiment he rose to the rank of Captain on the 31st of January 1795, and was removed to the Twenty-second light dragoons on the 19th of April 1796: these corps were afterwards disbanded. On the 17th of February 1803, he was promoted to the rank of Major in the Fortieth regiment, and to that of Lieut.-Colonel in the THIRTY-NINTH on the 16th of July 1803. Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Robert William O’Callaghan embarked, in March 1805, in command of the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, which was selected to form part of the expedition destined for the Mediterranean under Lieut.-General Sir James Craig, and subsequently proceeded from Malta to Naples with the flank companies. When those companies returned to Malta in February 1806, Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Robert William O’Callaghan remained in Sicily, and at the battle of Maida, on the 4th of July following, commanded a grenadier battalion; he received a gold medal for this victory.

On the 20th of August 1811, Lieut.-Colonel O’Callaghan proceeded with the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment from Sicily to join the army in the Peninsula, and on the 1st of January 1812, was advanced to the brevet rank of Colonel. At the battle of Vittoria, on the 21st of June 1813, he was placed in temporary command of the brigade, and his conduct was specially noticed in the Marquis of Wellington’s despatch. Colonel O’Callaghan also commanded the brigade during the actions in the Pyrenees in July following, and was present at the passage of the Nivelle and Nive. His conduct while in command of the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH at Garris, on the 15th of February 1814, was particularly adverted to by the Marquis of Wellington, in his Lordship’s despatch. Colonel O’Callaghan also shared in the victory gained at Orthes on the 27th of the same month. He received a cross and two clasps for Maida, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, and Orthes. Colonel O’Callaghan was promoted to the rank of Major-General on the 4th of June 1814, and was nominated a Knight Commander of the Bath on the 2nd of January 1815.

Major-General the Honorable Sir Robert William O’Callaghan, K.C.B., was placed upon the staff of the army in Flanders on the 25th of June 1815, and was appointed to the staff in France on the 22nd of April 1818. He was nominated to the command of the troops in North Britain on the 15th of June 1825; and on the 7th of September 1829 he received the colonelcy of the Ninety-seventh regiment. He was advanced to the rank of Lieut.-General on the 22nd of July 1830, which removed him from the command of the troops in North Britain.

Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Robert William O’Callaghan was appointed to the command of the army at Madras on the 4th of October 1830; and on the 4th of March 1833, was removed from the colonelcy of the Ninety-seventh to the THIRTY-NINTH regiment. He continued in command at Madras until October 1836, and on the departure for England of General the Right Honorable Lord William Bentinck, G.C.B., in the spring of 1835, he held for some months the command of the troops in India. On the 19th of July 1838, he was nominated a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Robert William O’Callaghan, G.C.B., who was brother to Lord Viscount Lismore, died in London on the 9th of June 1840.

SIR FREDERICK PHILIPSE ROBINSON, G.C.B.

_Appointed 15th of June 1840._

In February 1777, this officer was appointed Ensign in the Loyal American regiment, with which he served in North America; on the 11th of September 1778, he was removed to the Seventeenth regiment of infantry; and on the 1st of September 1779, Ensign Robinson was promoted Lieutenant in the fourth battalion of the Sixtieth regiment, and was removed to the Thirty-eighth regiment on the 4th of November 1780. He was a prisoner of war in America several months during the period of his belonging to the Sixtieth, and afterwards was in several engagements in that country. Lieutenant Robinson was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Thirty-eighth regiment on the 24th of March 1794, and served at the capture of the West India Islands, under General Sir Charles (afterwards Earl) Grey, in that year, including the siege of Fort Bourbon in the island of Martinique. On the 1st of September 1794, Captain Robinson was promoted to a Majority in the One hundred and twenty-seventh regiment (since disbanded), and was removed to the Thirty-second regiment on the 1st of September 1795, when he returned home from the West Indies. He was removed to the One hundred and thirty-fourth regiment (since disbanded) on the 29th of July 1796. In May of this year he had been appointed Inspecting Field Officer of the Recruiting service at Bedford, and some years after filled the same situation in the London district. While thus employed he suggested several improvements in regard to carrying on the Recruiting service. On the 1st of January 1800, he received the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel, and was placed on half-pay of the Ninety-first regiment on the 30th of April 1807. Lieut.-Colonel Robinson was promoted to the brevet rank of Colonel on the 25th of July 1810. He served as Brigadier-General on the staff in the Peninsula, from the 8th of August 1812 to the 3rd of June 1813. He was promoted to the rank of Major-General on the 4th of June 1813, and continued, from that date, on the staff in Spain in that capacity until the 24th of May 1814. He commanded a brigade at the battle of Vittoria on the 21st of June 1813, siege of Sebastian in August and September following, where he was wounded, and at the actions connected with the passage of the Nive, for which he received a medal and two clasps. After the termination of the war in the Peninsula, he proceeded to North America, and was employed on the staff in Canada from the 25th of May 1814 to the 24th of March 1816, when he was removed to the staff in the West Indies. On the 2nd of January 1815, Major-General Robinson was nominated a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. Major-General Sir Frederick Robinson continued in command of the troops in the Windward and Leeward Islands until the 24th of July 1821. He was advanced to the rank of Lieut.-General on the 27th of May 1825; was appointed Colonel of the Fifty-ninth regiment on the 1st of December 1827; and was nominated a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on the 20th of April 1838.

Lieut.-General Sir Frederick Philipse Robinson, G.C.B., was removed from the colonelcy of the Fifty-ninth to that of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 15th of June 1840, and was promoted to the rank of General on the 23rd of November 1841. His decease occurred at Brighton, on the 1st of January 1852.

GEORGE BURRELL, C.B.

_Appointed 11th February 1852._

This officer was appointed Ensign in the Fifteenth regiment of infantry, on the 4th of February 1797; was promoted Lieutenant on the 3rd of May following; and rose to the rank of Captain, in the same corps, on the 15th of August 1805. Captain Burrell was promoted to a Majority in the Ninetieth regiment on the 30th of April 1807, and served at the capture of Guadeloupe, in February 1810, with the expedition under Lieut.-General Sir George Beckwith, K.B., which island had been restored to the French at the Peace of Amiens. He received the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel on the 4th of June 1813, and served during the campaign of 1814 in Upper Canada. He was appointed from the Ninetieth to be Lieut.-Colonel of the Eighteenth Royal Irish regiment, on the 22nd of July 1830, from which date he was promoted to the brevet rank of Colonel.

Colonel George Burrell embarked, in command of the service companies of the Eighteenth regiment, destined for Ceylon, on the 10th of January 1837; in 1840 they proceeded to China, hostilities having arisen between that country and Great Britain. At the first capture of Chusan in July 1840, he commanded the troops with the rank of Brigadier-General, and also a brigade at the attack upon Canton in May 1841. He was nominated a Companion of the Order of the Bath on the 14th of October 1841, and on the 23rd of November following was advanced to the rank of Major-General, and to that of Lieut.-General on the 11th of November 1851. Lieut.-General Burrell was appointed Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 11th of February 1852, which he held only a short period, as he died at Alnwick on the 4th of January 1853.

RICHARD LLUELLYN, C.B.

_Appointed 17th January 1853._

APPENDIX.

_Memoir of the Services of Colonel George Wilson, formerly Lieut.-Colonel of the_ THIRTY-NINTH _regiment_.

The services of Colonel George Wilson are particularly connected with the THIRTY-NINTH, as all his regimental appointments occurred in that corps. His commission as Ensign in the THIRTY-NINTH regiment was dated 18th of February 1784, and he rose to the rank of Lieutenant on the 1st of February 1786, and to that of Captain on the 31st of October 1792. In September 1793 the THIRTY-NINTH regiment was embarked from Ireland for the West Indies, in order to share in the attack on the French possessions in that part of the globe. The details of these operations are contained in the Historical Record of the Regiment (pages 38. to 40.); and on the 6th of October 1794, the garrison at Berville Camp, in Guadeloupe, of which the THIRTY-NINTH formed part, was, after a gallant resistance, compelled to surrender, in consequence of the havoc made amongst the troops by the unhealthy climate of that island. Captain Wilson was promoted to the rank of Major of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 1st of September 1795, and in April of the following year the regiment formed part of an expedition against the Dutch colonies of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice. These colonies surrendered upon being summoned, and were occupied by the British troops. By official documents it appears that during the greater part of the year 1799, Major Wilson was in command at Fort William Frederick in Demerara. On the 1st of January 1801, he received the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel. The THIRTY-NINTH returned to England from the West Indies in the spring of 1803, and on the 9th of July of that year Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Wilson was appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the Ninth Battalion of Reserve, and on the 15th of October following was removed to the THIRTY-NINTH, to which a second battalion had been added. In November 1804 Lieut.-Colonel Wilson embarked at Plymouth in command of the second battalion, which proceeded to Guernsey.

The second battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment proceeded to the Peninsula in June 1809, to join the army under Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley. On the 25th of July 1810, Lieut.-Colonel Wilson was appointed Aide-de-camp to His Majesty King George III., with the rank of Colonel in the army; and he commanded a brigade at the battle of Busaco on the 27th of September following. Colonel Wilson subsequently commanded the brigade to which the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment was attached, and added to the deserved reputation he had already acquired. His career was now drawing to a close, for shortly after the arrival of the THIRTY-NINTH at Coria, the corps sustained a severe loss in the decease of Colonel Wilson, which occurred on the 6th of January 1813, after a service of upwards of twenty-nine years in the regiment.

_Memoir of the Services of Major-General Sir Charles Bruce, K.C.B., formerly Lieut.-Colonel of the_ THIRTY-NINTH _regiment_.

This officer was appointed Ensign in the Fifty-second regiment on the 4th of February 1793, was promoted to a lieutenancy in the Ninety-ninth regiment on the 6th of August following, and was advanced to the rank of Captain in the One hundred and fifth regiment on the 23rd of April 1794, which two latter corps have been since disbanded. Captain Bruce was removed to the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 1st of October 1795, and was present at the capture of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice in 1796. He served seven years with his regiment in the West Indies, and on the staff as Assistant Quartermaster-General and Barrack-Master at Surinam and Antigua. On the 25th of September 1803 he received the brevet rank of Major, and was promoted to that rank in the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 21st of March 1805. He next served in Spain and Portugal; and on the 25th of July 1810 was advanced to the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel. Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Bruce commanded the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH at the battle of Vittoria on the 21st of June 1813, in consequence of Colonel the Honorable Robert William O’Callaghan being in temporary command of a brigade, and also during the actions in the Pyrenees from the 25th to the 31st of July following. At the passage of the Nive in December of the same year Lieut.-Colonel Bruce commanded the light companies of the brigade, and distinguished himself at the affair of _Garris_ on the 15th of February 1814, where he was severely wounded. He was also present at the battle of Orthes on the 27th of that month. For the battles of Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nive, and Orthes, he had the honor of wearing a cross, and on the 4th of June 1815 was nominated a Companion of the Order of the Bath. On the 29th of June 1815 he was appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, and was placed on the half-pay of that corps on the 25th of February 1816. Lieut.-Colonel Bruce was promoted to the brevet rank of Colonel on the 12th of August 1819, was appointed to the Sixty-ninth regiment on the 29th of March 1821, and was placed on the half-pay of that corps on the 25th of April 1826, from which he exchanged to the Sixth foot on the 10th of January 1828, and to the Sixty-fourth regiment on the 1st of May following. Colonel Bruce was advanced to the rank of Major-General on the 22nd of July 1830, and was nominated a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on the 13th of September 1831. His decease occurred in London on the 7th of August 1832.

_Memoir of the Services of Major-General Sir Patrick Lindesay, K.C.B. and K.C.H., formerly Lieut.-Colonel of the_ THIRTY-NINTH _regiment_.

Major-General Sir Patrick Lindesay was the only son of Lieut.-Colonel John Lindesay of the Fifty-third regiment, and was born at Musselburgh, in the county of Edinburgh, on the 24th of February 1778. He received his education at the university of St. Andrew’s, and was appointed Ensign in the Thirty-second regiment on the 7th of November 1793, and was gazetted Lieutenant in the Seventy-eighth regiment on the day following. Lieutenant Lindesay was wounded while serving with his regiment in Holland in 1794, in the expedition under the command of His Royal Highness the Duke of York, and was promoted to the rank of Captain on the 1st of September 1795. Captain Lindesay was removed from the Seventy-eighth to the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 20th of October 1796, and served with the latter corps in the colonies of Demerara, Berbice, and Surinam, from 1797 until December 1802, when the regiment embarked for Barbadoes, proceeding thence to Antigua, and, in March 1803, returned to England, where it arrived in April following. After serving for a short period on the staff as Aide-de-camp to Brigadier-General Brent Spencer in the Sussex district, he accompanied the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment to the Mediterranean in March 1805. On the 1st of October 1807 he was advanced to the rank of Major in the THIRTY-NINTH; and this promotion removed him to the second battalion of the regiment, which he subsequently joined at Guernsey, and proceeded with it in June 1809 to Portugal, the battalion having been selected to form part of the force employed in that country under the command of Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley. Major Lindesay was present at the battle of Busaco on the 27th of September 1810, in command of the second battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, Lieut.-Colonel Wilson having been appointed to the charge of a brigade. At the battle of Albuhera on the 16th of May 1811, Major Lindesay also commanded the second battalion, and received a medal for that action, and on the 20th of June following was promoted to the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel. Shortly afterwards he again distinguished himself at Arroyo dos Molinos, on the 28th of October 1811, in an expedition, under the immediate orders of Lieut.-General Rowland Hill, against a division of the French army commanded by General Girard. On this occasion Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Lindesay was detached with the second battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH in pursuit of the discomfited enemy; and at considerable hazard, although without success, personally summoned the French commander to surrender. In 1812 Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Lindesay was employed in England recruiting the second battalion under his command, which had returned from the Peninsula for that purpose.

In October 1813 Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Lindesay joined the first battalion in the Peninsula, and was present at the conflicts with the enemy on the Nivelle, Nive, and at Bayonne, on the invasion of the French territory, as well as in all the subsequent engagements, until June 1814, when he embarked at Bourdeaux with the first battalion for North America, upon the termination of the campaign in the Peninsula, in consequence of Great Britain being engaged in hostilities with the United States. In May 1815 the battalion proceeded to embark at Quebec under the command of Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Lindesay, who was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on the 4th of June following. The services of the corps were necessary in Europe, in consequence of the return of Napoleon Bonaparte to France; but before in arrival at Ostend the victory of Waterloo had been gained by the allied troops under the Duke of Wellington. The battalion subsequently proceeded to Paris, and Lieut.-Colonel Lindesay continued in France until the breaking up of the Army of Occupation in 1818, when he returned to England with the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, which embarked at Calais on the 30th of October of that year, and shortly after its arrival at Dover proceeded to Ireland.

Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Lindesay was appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH on the 12th of August 1824; and having been employed with the regiment in Ireland until the following year, he proceeded to England in command of the corps preparatory to its embarking, by detachments, for New South Wales, for which colony Brevet-Colonel Lindesay, to which rank he had been promoted on the 27th of May 1825, embarked with the head-quarters of the regiment on the 26th of April 1827.