Chapter III: Part 3

The position which the Duke of Wellington occupied in front of _Waterloo_, crossed the high roads leading from Charleroi and Nivelle to Brussels, and which roads united at the village of Mont St. Jean, in the rear of the British. The right wing extended to a ravine near Merke Braine, which was occupied. The left extended to a height above the hamlet of Ter la Haye, which was likewise occupied. In front of the right centre, and near the Nivelle road, the house and garden of Hougomont were taken possession of, and in front of the left centre, the farm of La Haye Sainte was occupied. By the left the British communicated with Marshal Prince Blucher at Wavre, through Ohaim.

Napoleon collected his army on a range of heights in front of the British, with the exception of his third corps, which he had sent to observe the Prussians. About ten o’clock the French commenced a furious attack upon the post at Hougomont. Then ensued a conflict which will ever be memorable in the history of Europe. The attacks of the French troops were frequently calculated to spread confusion through any army. They were supported by the thunder of a numerous artillery, and followed up by such a succession of column after column, rolling onwards like the waves of the sea, that it required a degree of unexampled fortitude and courage to oppose effectual resistance to so fierce and continued a storm of war.

That degree of courage was not wanting in the British ranks, and paralysed by the fierce determination of his opponents, the attacks of Napoleon’s legions relaxed; the Prussians arrived on the left to co-operate; the Anglo-Belgian army formed line, and with one impetuous charge decided the fortune of the day. The French were driven from the field with the loss of their cannon and equipage, and the hopes of Bonaparte were annihilated.

During the greater part of the battle, the SEVENTY-THIRD, with the second battalion of the thirtieth, were very much exposed to the enemy’s artillery, and constantly engaged in repelling numerous charges of cavalry that appeared determined to break their square, which ultimately was reduced to a very small size, from the casualties occasioned by round and grape shot. Lieutenant Robert Stewart, one of the junior officers of the SEVENTY-THIRD, commanded the battalion at the termination of the battle, and in consequence was some years afterwards promoted to a company without purchase.[17]

The casualties amongst the officers were unusually great. Of _twenty-three_ who marched into action on the 16th of June at Quatre Bras, _twenty-two_ were killed and wounded on that and the two following days.

In the battle on the 18th of June the SEVENTY-THIRD had Captains Alexander Robertson and John Kennedy; Lieutenant Matthew Hollis; and Ensigns William Law Lowe and Charles Page _killed_.

The officers wounded were Lieut.-Colonel William George Harris (Colonel) commanding the battalion, severely; Major Archibald John Maclean, who died of his wounds; Captains Henry Coane, William Wharton, and John Garland, all severely. Lieutenants John McConnell, Thomas Reynolds, and Donald Browne all severely; Lieutenant Browne afterwards died of his wounds. Ensigns William McBean, Charles Bedford Eastwood, and George Dondridge Bridge (severely), and Ensign and Adjutant Patrick Hay severely.

Three serjeants, one drummer, and forty-three rank and file were killed, and thirteen serjeants, two drummers, and one hundred and sixty rank and file were wounded; twenty-four of the above number died of their wounds; forty-one rank and file were missing.

In acknowledgment of the services which the army performed in the battle of Waterloo, and the actions immediately preceding it, each subaltern officer and soldier present were permitted to count two years additional service, and silver medals were conferred on all ranks, bearing on the one side an impression of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and on the reverse the figure of Victory, holding the palm in the right hand, and the olive branch in the left, with the word “_Wellington_” over its head, and “WATERLOO,” 18th June, 1815, at its feet.

The thanks of both Houses of Parliament were voted to the army with the greatest enthusiasm, “for its distinguished valour at Waterloo;” and the SEVENTY-THIRD and other regiments engaged, were permitted to bear the word “WATERLOO” on their colours and appointments, in commemoration of their distinguished services on the 18th of June, 1815.

After the battle of Waterloo, the battalion, which was reduced to a complete skeleton, advanced with the army to Paris, where it arrived in the first week in July, and encamped in the Bois de Boulogne until November, when it was placed in cantonments in the vicinity of that metropolis.

Meanwhile Louis XVIII. had entered Paris, and was again reinstated on the throne of his ancestors. Napoleon Bonaparte had surrendered himself to Captain Maitland, commanding the “Bellerophon” British ship of war, and the island of St. Helena having been fixed for his residence, he was conveyed thither, with a few of his zealous adherents.

When the allied forces retired from Paris in December, 1815, with the exception of the “_Army of Occupation_” left in France, the second battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment was ordered to return to England; it embarked at Calais on the 23rd of December, and landed on the same day at Ramsgate; from Ramsgate it marched to Colchester to join the depôt, which continued in that town during the absence of the battalion on foreign service.

[Sidenote: 1816]

The battalion afterwards marched to Nottingham, where it arrived on the 12th of February, 1816.

[Sidenote: 1817]

The battalion was stationed between Nottingham, Weedon, and Colchester, until May, 1817, when it was ordered to proceed to Chelmsford to be disbanded, which measure took place on the 4th of May, 1817, the most effective men, consisting of three hundred and ten non-commissioned officers and privates being embarked to join the first battalion of the regiment at Ceylon.

1817.

CONCLUSION.

The earlier services of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, originally formed as a second battalion to the forty-second Highlanders, are connected with the wars against Hyder Ali and his son, Tippoo Saib, the powerful sultans of the Mysore territory: the word “_Mangalore_,” granted by royal authority for the gallant defence of that fortress in 1783, and the word “_Seringapatam_” for the share taken by the regiment in the capture of the capital of Tippoo’s country in 1799, when that sovereign terminated his career by a soldier’s death, are borne on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of these arduous campaigns in India.

Other services were, however, performed by the regiment in the East, among which may be named the capture of the French settlement of _Pondicherry_ in 1793, and that of the Dutch island of _Ceylon_ in 1796, when the French Directory had caused Holland to become involved in hostilities with Great Britain.

After a service of _twenty-four_ years in India, the regiment returned to England, and arrived at Greenwich in July, 1806.

In 1809 the regiment proceeded to New South Wales, when a second battalion was added to its establishment.

Brief as was the career of the second battalion, namely from 1809 to 1817, it added the imperishable word “WATERLOO” to the regimental colour and appointments, that distinction being conferred by the Sovereign to commemorate its services in that battle, which gave a lengthened peace to the powers of Europe.

In 1814 the first battalion embarked from New South Wales for Ceylon, in the capture of which island the regiment had formerly participated.

The regiment returned to England in 1821, and continued on home service until 1827, when it embarked for Gibraltar, from which fortress it proceeded to Malta in 1829, and in 1834 to the Ionian Islands, whence it returned to Gibraltar in 1838, and embarked for North America.

In 1841 the regiment returned to England, and, in 1845, proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, where it is now employed in active operations against the Kaffirs.

The orderly behaviour of the regiment in quarters, whether employed at home, or on foreign stations, combined with its soldier-like conduct in the field, have secured the confidence of the nation, and the approbation of the Sovereign.

1851.

_Madeley lith. 3 Wellington S^t Strand_

_For Cannon’s Military Records._]

FOOTNOTES:

[14] On the 21st of August, 1810, the French Marshal Bernadotte, one of Napoleon’s generals, was elected Crown Prince of Sweden. The appointment of a successor to the throne of that country was considered necessary in consequence of the Duke of Sudermania, who had been elected king in the room of the deposed Gustavus IV., being advanced in years, and without children.

[15] The following statement of the above operations is contained in the _Annual Register_, vol. 87, page 280:--

“After landing at Stralsund, and assisting in completing the works of that town, Lieut.-Colonel Harris, with the SEVENTY-THIRD, was detached into the interior of the country, to feel for the enemy, and also to get into communication with Lieut.-General Count Wallmoden, which dangerous service he successfully effected, though he had, with great care and caution, to creep with his small force between the large _corps d’armée_ of Davoust and other French generals at that time stationed in Pomerania, Mecklenburg, and Hanover. Having joined Count Wallmoden, the SEVENTY-THIRD contributed greatly to the victory that General gained over the French on the plains of Gorde, in Hanover, where Lieut.-Colonel Harris, at the head of his battalion, declining any aid, and at the moment when the German hussars had been routed, charged up a steep hill, took a battery of French artillery, and unfurling the British colours, at once spread terror amongst that gallant enemy which feared no others; a panic struck them, and they fled.”

[16] A list of the British and Hanoverian army at Waterloo is inserted in the _Appendix_, page 73.

[17] “Once, and once only, during the dreadful carnage at Waterloo, did the stern SEVENTY-THIRD hesitate to fill up a gap which the relentless iron had torn in their square; their Lieut.-Colonel (Brevet Colonel Harris) at once pushing his horse lengthwise across the space, said with a smile, ‘Well, my lads, if you wont, I must’; it is almost needless to add that immediately he was led back to his proper place, and the ranks closed up by men still more devoted than before.”--(_Annual Register_, _vol. 87_, page 280.)

SUCCESSION OF COLONELS

OF

THE SEVENTY-THIRD REGIMENT.

SIR GEORGE OSBORN, BART.

_Appointed 18th April, 1786_.

The early services of this officer were associated with the sixteenth light dragoons, in which, upon that regiment being raised in 1759, Sir George Osborn, Bart., obtained a troop on the 20th of December of that year, and on the 13th of February, 1762, he was promoted to the rank of major in the eighteenth, Royal Irish, regiment of foot. On the 31st of March, 1763, Major Sir George Osborn was appointed deputy quarter-master-general to the Forces in Ireland, and on the 19th of November, 1765, he was promoted to the third regiment of foot guards as captain and lieut.-colonel, in which regiment he was appointed second major, with the brevet rank of colonel in the army, on the 7th of August, 1777. On the 19th of February, 1779, he was advanced to the rank of major-general, and was appointed lieut.-colonel in the third regiment of foot guards on the 25th of March, 1782. Upon the second battalion of the forty-second, Royal Highlanders, being numbered the SEVENTY-THIRD Highland regiment in 1786, His Majesty King George III. appointed Major-General Sir George Osborn, Bart., to the colonelcy of the SEVENTY-THIRD on the 18th of April of that year, and on the 11th of August following he was removed to the fortieth regiment, which he retained until his decease. On the 28th of September 1787, Sir George Osborn was advanced to the rank of lieut.-general, and to that of general on the 26th of January, 1797. General Sir George Osborn died at Chicksands Priory on the 29th of June, 1818, in the seventy-seventh year of his age.

SIR WILLIAM MEDOWS, K.B.

_Appointed 11th August, 1786_.

The early services of this distinguished officer are connected with the fourth horse, now seventh dragoon guards, in which corps he was appointed captain in March, 1764, and was promoted to the rank of major on the 1st of October, 1766. He was further advanced to the rank of lieut.-colonel of the fifth Fusiliers in 1769; was removed to the twelfth light dragoons in 1773, and to the fifty-fifth regiment in 1775. While serving with his regiment in North America, he evinced that valour, magnanimity, and military skill, which were afterwards more fully developed in the West, and also the East Indies. He was again removed to the lieut.-colonelcy of the fifth Fusiliers in 1777, in succession to Lieut.-Colonel Walcott, who died of wounds received at the battle of Germantown, in Pennsylvania, which was fought on the 4th of October, 1777. He commanded the fifth during the long and hazardous retreat from Philadelphia to New York; and having been appointed to act as brigadier-general, he proceeded with the expedition under Major-General James Grant to the West Indies. Brigadier-General Medows commanded the reserve, consisting of the fifth foot, grenadiers, and light infantry, at the attack of St. Lucia in December 1778; and having seized on the post of La Vigie, he evinced signal intrepidity in defending it against the attacks of a French force of very superior numbers: though severely wounded early in the day, he refused to quit his post, and finding his ammunition nearly expended, he drew up his men in front of their colours, and waving his sword, exclaimed, “Soldiers, as long as you have a bayonet to point against an enemy’s breast, defend these colours.” They did so, and secured the conquest of St. Lucia.

His distinguished bravery was rewarded in 1780, with the colonelcy of the (late) eighty-ninth regiment: and in 1781 he was promoted to the local rank of major-general in the East Indies, where he acquired numerous laurels under General the Earl Cornwallis. He was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1782, and was appointed to the colonelcy of the SEVENTY-THIRD Highland regiment on the 11th of August, 1786; and his meritorious services procured him the honor of wearing the insignia of a Knight Companion of the Bath. Sir William Medows was afterwards appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Madras. In 1792 Sir William Medows was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general; in 1796 he was appointed colonel of the seventh dragoon guards; and in 1798 was advanced to the rank of general. He was also Governor of Hull, and a member of the Privy Council in Ireland. The decease of General Sir William Medows, K.B., occurred on the 20th of November, 1813.

GERARD LAKE,

(Afterwards Viscount Lake.)

_Appointed 2nd November, 1796_.

Gerard Lake, third son of Lancelot Charles Lake, Esq., choosing the profession of arms, was nominated to the commission of ensign and lieutenant in the first foot guards, on the 9th of May, 1758; in 1762 he was promoted to lieutenant and captain, and in 1776 to captain and lieut.-colonel. He served in North America during the War of Independence; was engaged in operations in the southern states, under General the Earl Cornwallis, and had opportunities of distinguishing himself. When Earl Cornwallis’s force was besieged in York Town, by the united French and American armies, Lieut.-Colonel Lake commanded a detachment of foot guards and grenadiers of the eightieth regiment, which made a sortie on the 16th of October, 1781, forced the entrenchments, spiked eleven heavy guns, and killed and wounded about a hundred French soldiers. On the surrender of York Town he became a prisoner of war; but hostilities were terminated soon afterwards, and he returned to England, having been promoted to the rank of colonel in February, 1782. In 1784 he was nominated major, and in 1792 lieut.-colonel in the first foot guards. In 1790 he was advanced to the rank of major-general. On the breaking out of the French revolutionary war, he was nominated to the command of the brigade of foot guards which proceeded to Flanders, and served under His Royal Highness the Duke of York. He commanded this brigade at the battle of Famars, and at the siege of Valenciennes, and highly distinguished himself at Lincelles, on the 18th of August, 1793, for which he was thanked in general orders. He also served before Dunkirk, and in other operations: and in 1794 he was rewarded with the colonelcy of the fifty-third regiment, and the government of Limerick; he was afterwards nominated Governor of Dumbarton. In 1796 he was removed to the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment: in 1797 he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general, and placed on the staff of Ireland, where he evinced talent and energy in suppressing the rebellion which broke out in 1798, and gained several important victories over the insurgents. When the French landed in Ireland, he was obliged to retire a short distance; but additional troops advancing to his aid, he intercepted the French soldiers and forced them to surrender prisoners of war. In 1800 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief in India, and colonel of the eightieth regiment; and in 1802 he was promoted to the rank of general. He arrived in India at the period when the Governor-General, the Marquis Wellesley, was displaying the energies of his mind in counteracting the intrigues of France among the native powers of Hindoostan; and the ambitious designs of the Mahratta chiefs soon called General Lake into the field, when his talents were conspicuously displayed. His spirited and judicious operations at Coel, on the 29th of August, 1803; the assault of Aly Ghur, on the 9th of September; and the overthrow of the Mahratta army near Delhi, on the 11th of September, on which occasion his charger was killed under him, produced decisive results. The country between the Ganges and Jumna rivers, called the Doab (a general name in India for the space between two rivers), became subject to British authority; and six days afterwards General Lake visited the Emperor, Shah Alum, whom he had rescued from oppression, and who conferred upon him titles which signified,--The Saver of the State,--Hero of the Land,--Lord of the Age,--and the Victorious in War.

Afterwards proceeding to Agra, General Lake speedily captured that place, and on the 1st of November, 1803, he gained an important victory at Leswaree, when the French-officered battalions of Dowlat Rao Scindia were annihilated, the Mahratta army overpowered, and its colours, artillery, and baggage captured. His services on this occasion were of a distinguished character; he led the charge of the cavalry in the morning;--conducted in person the attacks of the infantry, and in the midst of the storm of battle he displayed valour, professional ability, promptitude and decision; his magnanimous example inspired confidence and emulation in the troops, and they triumphed over very superior numbers. Two horses were killed under him on this occasion.

His important services were rewarded, in 1804, with the title of LORD LAKE OF DELHI AND LESWAREE.

Pursuing, the war with vigour, Lord Lake routed the power of Holkar at Furruckbad; but the war was protracted by the defection of the Rajah of Bhurtpore; and when his Lordship besieged the city of Bhurtpore, he failed in capturing the place from the want of a battering train. The Rajah of Bhurtpore was, however, brought to terms; and Lord Lake pursued the hostile Rajah of Berar from place to place until this chief was brought to submission. The British military power in the East was strengthened by these successes; and the extent and stability of the dominions in India augmented.

His Lordship returned to England, and in 1807 he was advanced to the dignity of VISCOUNT LAKE.

He caught cold while sitting on the general court-martial which tried Major-General Whitelocke; and died on the 30th of February, 1808.

GEORGE LORD HARRIS, G.C.B.

_Appointed 14th February, 1800._

This distinguished officer entered the service in 1759 as a cadet in the Royal Artillery, and was appointed ensign in the fifth fusiliers on the 30th of July, 1762; he was promoted to be lieutenant on the 2nd of July, 1765, was appointed adjutant in 1767, and promoted to the rank of captain on the 25th of July, 1771. In May, 1774, Captain Harris embarked for America, and was present in the first action of the American war, namely, at Lexington, on the 19th of April, 1775. At the battle of Bunker’s Hill on the 17th of June following, he was severely wounded in the head, and obliged to be trepanned, which caused him to be sent to England; but he returned in time to take the field previously to the landing of the British army on Long Island in August, 1776. Captain Harris was present at the affair of Flat Bush; in the skirmishes on York Island; in the engagement at White Plains; at Iron Hill (where he was shot through the leg), and in every action up to the 3rd of November, 1778, except that of Germantown. In 1778 he was promoted to the rank of major in the fifth fusiliers, and embarked with the regiment for the West Indies with the force under Major-General James Grant, by whom he was appointed to command the battalion of grenadiers, and landed with the reserve of the army under Brigadier-General Medows, at St. Lucia on the 25th of December. After the taking of Morne Fortunée, Major Harris was second in command under Brigadier-General Medows at the post of La Vigie, where the French were repulsed in their repeated attacks, and in consequence they retreated from the Island. Immediately after the departure of the French armament, the Governor surrendered the Island of St. Lucia to the British troops, the capitulation being signed on the 30th of December, 1778. In 1779, Major Harris embarked with the fifth fusiliers, which were ordered to serve as marines, and was present in the engagement off Grenada, under Admiral Byron, on the 6th of July, 1779. In 1780, Major Harris returned to England, and in December of that year succeeded to a lieut.-colonelcy in the fifth fusiliers, from which he exchanged into the seventy-sixth regiment, and accompanied to the East Indies, as secretary, Sir William Medows, who was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Madras. Lieut.-Colonel Harris served in the campaigns of 1790 and 1791 against Tippoo Sultan; in the action of the 15th of May, 1791, he was appointed by General the Earl Cornwallis to command the second line; he was also personally engaged in the attack of the Sultan’s camp and of the Island of Seringapatam, on the night of the 6th of February, 1792, the success of which terminated that war. Peace being re-established, Lieut.-Colonel Harris returned with Lieut.-General Sir William Medows to England. On the 18th of November, 1792, he was promoted colonel by brevet, and on the 3rd of October, 1794, he was advanced to the rank of major-general, when he re-embarked for India, and was placed on the Bengal Staff. On the 3rd of May, 1796, Major-General Harris received the local rank of lieut.-general, and was appointed Commander-in-Chief in the Presidency of Fort St. George; in February, 1798, he succeeded to the military and civil government of the troops and territories of Madras.

In December, 1798, Lieut.-General Harris was selected, by the Marquis Wellesley to command the army assembled to repel the threatened hostility of Tippoo Sultan, to besiege his capital, and to reduce his power. The army under the command of Lieut.-General Harris exceeded fifty thousand men, and the object of the expedition was accomplished by the capture of _Seringapatam_, the death of Tippoo, and annexation of his dominions to the British Crown, as detailed in the Historical Record of the SEVENTY-THIRD, of which regiment he was appointed colonel on the 14th of February, 1800, as a reward for his important services:--on the 1st of January, 1801, he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general. On the 1st of January, 1812, Lieut.-General Harris was advanced to the rank of general. In August, 1815, General Harris was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Harris of Seringapatam and Mysore in the East Indies, and of Belmont in Kent, and was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on the 27th of May, 1820. His Lordship succeeded General Francis Dundas as Governor of Dumbarton Castle in January, 1824. During the latter years of his life his Lordship lived in retirement at his seat at Belmont, Feversham, in Kent, where his decease occurred on the 19th of May, 1829, at the advanced age of eighty-two years.

THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR FREDERICK ADAM, G.C.B., & G.C.M.G.

_Appointed 22nd May, 1829._

Removed to the fifty-seventh regiment on the 4th of December, 1835, and to the twenty-first, Royal North British Fusiliers, on the 31st of May, 1843.

WILLIAM GEORGE LORD HARRIS, C.B., & K.C.H.

_Appointed 4th December, 1835._

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’.