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Henry Torrens (British Army Officer)
Major-General Sir Henry Torrens (1779 – 23 August 1828) was an Adjutant-General to the Forces. Early life Torrens was born in Derry, Ireland in 1779. He was the youngest son of the Reverend Thomas Torrens and his wife Elizabeth Curry. He lost both his parents at an early age, and was educated at a military academy in Dublin. Robert Torrens, judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland), was his brother and Robert's namesake Colonel Robert Torrens, the economist, was his first cousin. The family was of Swedish origin, and came to Ireland about 1690 with William of Orange. Military career Torrens was commissioned as an ensign into the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot in 1793 at the age of 14. In 1796 he served under Abercrombie in the West Indies, where he displayed great bravery, was wounded, and rewarded with a company. He served in Portugal in 1798; in Holland under the Duke of York in 1799; and afterwards in Nova Scotia, Egypt, and India. In 1799 Torrens went to De ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The old walled city lies on the west bank of the River Foyle, which is spanned by two road bridges and one footbridge. The city now covers both banks (Cityside on the west and Waterside on the east). The population of the city was 83,652 at the 2001 Census, while the Derry Urban Area had a population of 90,736. The district administered by Derry City and Strabane District Council contains both Londonderry Port and City of Derry Airport. Derry is close to the border with County Donegal, with which it has had a close link for many centuries. The person traditionally seen as the founder of the original Derry is Saint , a holy man from , the old name for almost all of modern County Donegal, of which the west bank of the Foyle was a part before 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prince Frederick, Duke Of York And Albany
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (Frederick Augustus; 16 August 1763 – 5 January 1827) was the second son of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover, and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A soldier by profession, from 1764 to 1803 he was Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück in the Holy Roman Empire. From the death of his father in 1820 until his own death in 1827, he was the heir presumptive to his elder brother, George IV, in both the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Hanover. Frederick was thrust into the British Army at a very early age and was appointed to high command at the age of thirty, when he was given command of a notoriously ineffectual campaign during the War of the First Coalition, a continental war following the French Revolution. Later, as Commander-in-Chief during the Napoleonic Wars, he oversaw the reorganisation of the British Army, establishing vital structural, administrative and recruiting reformsGlo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Byng, 1st Earl Of Strafford
Field Marshal John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford (1772 – 3 June 1860) was a British Army officer and politician. After serving as a junior officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and Irish Rebellion of 1798, he became Commanding Officer of the Grenadier Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards during the disastrous Walcheren Campaign. He served as a brigade commander at the Battle of Vitoria and then at the Battle of Roncesvalles on 25 July 1813 when his brigade took the brunt of the French assault and held its position for three hours in the early morning before finally being forced back. During the Hundred Days, he commanded the 2nd Guards Brigade at the Battle of Quatre Bras in June 1815 and again at the Battle of Waterloo later that month when light companies from his brigade played an important role in the defence of Château d'Hougoumont. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Ireland and, after leaving Ireland in 1831, he was elected as Whig Member of Parliame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2nd West India Regiment
The West India Regiments (WIR) were infantry units of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. In 1888 the two West India Regiments then in existence were reduced to a single unit of two battalions. This regiment differed from similar forces raised in other parts of the British Empire in that it formed an integral part of the regular British Army. In 1958 a new regiment was created following the creation of the Federation of the West Indies with the establishment of three battalions, however, the regiment's existence was short-lived and it was disbanded in 1962 when its personnel were used to establish other units in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Throughout their history, the regiments were involved in a number of campaigns in the West Indies and Africa, and also took part in the First World War, where they served in the Middle East and East Africa. History Origins and early basis of recruitment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Beckwith (British Army Officer)
General Sir George Beckwith GCB (1753 – 20 March 1823) was a British Army officer. Military career Beckwith was commissioned into the 37th Regiment of Foot in 1771. He distinguished himself as a regimental officer in the American Revolutionary War, where he was assistant to Major Oliver Delancey responsible for British Intelligence. In July 1782, he replaced Delancey and after the war he worked for Sir Guy Carleton in Canada. His efforts were aimed at stirring up trouble in Vermont, Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee. At the time Britain thought the weak American government might ask for British help. He was then appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda in 1797, when a colonel. His baggage and furniture left England on 23 September 1797, aboard the ''Caledonia'', travelling in a convoy bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, but was lost when the ''Caledonia'' was captured by the French. Beckwith was to follow aboard a Royal Navy frigate and so escaped the fate of his ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert Taylor (British Army Officer)
Lieutenant-General Sir Herbert Taylor (29 September 1775 – 20 March 1839) was the first Private Secretary to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, serving George III, George IV, and William IV. Military career Taylor was the son of Rev. Edward Taylor of Bifrons, Patrixbourne, Kent and his wife Margaret Payler daughter of Thomas Turner Payler of Ileden, who died at Brussels in 1780. The diplomat Sir Brook Taylor was his younger brother. He joined the 2nd Dragoon Guards as a cornet in 1794. Later that year he was promoted to lieutenant and then the following year to captain. In 1795 he served as assistant secretary and aide de camp to the Duke of York, then commander-in-chief of the British Army. Taylor was later the Duke of York's assistant military secretary, an office he held until 1798. He was later a Major. In 1798 he was made Aide de Camp, Military Secretary and Private Secretary to the Marquess Cornwallis, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In the following year he return ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Willoughby Gordon
General Sir James Willoughby Gordon, 1st Baronet (21 October 1772 – 4 January 1851) was a general officer in the British Army. He notably served as most long-standing Quartermaster-General to the Forces, holding the position for some 40 years. Early life He was the eldest son of Captain Francis Grant-Gordon RN and Mary, daughter of Sir Willoughby Aston, 5th Baronet of Risley, Derbyshire. His younger brothers were Admiral Charles Gordon and Rear-Admiral Henry Gordon, who was twice mayor of Bath. Military career Gordon was commissioned into the 66th Regiment of Foot in 1783. He was appointed Assistant Adjutant General in Ireland in 1795 and in 1801 under Colonel William Henry Clinton commanded the 85th Regiment of Foot in Madeira following its capture. Later the same year he became Deputy Adjutant-General in the West Indies. After serving as Aide de Camp and Military Secretary to the Duke of Kent, he returned to England in 1803 to become Assistant Quartermaster-General. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Secretary (United Kingdom)
The Military Secretary is the British Army office with responsibility for appointments, promotion, postings and discipline of high ranking officers of the British Army. It is a senior British Army appointment, held by an officer holding the rank of major-general. The position of Deputy Military Secretary is held by an officer holding the rank of brigadier. The Military Secretary's counterpart in the Royal Navy is the Naval Secretary. The Royal Air Force equivalent is the Air Secretary. The post was initially established as the Public Secretary or Military Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in 1795 (prior to which a civilian had served as Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief). The title was formally changed to Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for War in 1904. It was sometimes referred to in military jargon as Military Secretary at Headquarters. In 1964 it became Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence. In 1995 a new Army Personnel Centre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Vimeiro
In the Battle of Vimeiro (sometimes shown as "Vimiera" or "Vimeira" in contemporary British texts) on 21 August 1808, the British under General Arthur Wellesley (who later became the Duke of Wellington) defeated the French under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro (), near Lisbon, Portugal during the Peninsular War. This battle put an end to the first French invasion of Portugal. Four days after the Battle of Roliça, Wellesley's army was attacked by a French army under General Junot near the village of Vimeiro. The battle began as a battle of manoeuvre, with French troops attempting to outflank the British left, but Wellesley was able to redeploy his army to face the assault. Meanwhile, Junot sent in two central columns but these were forced back by sustained volleys from troops in line. Soon afterwards, the flanking attack was beaten off and Junot retreated towards Torres Vedras, having lost 2,000 men and 13 cannon, compared to 700 Anglo-Portug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Roliça
In the Battle of Roliça (17 August 1808) an Anglo-Portuguese army under Sir Arthur Wellesley defeated an outnumbered Imperial French division under General of Division Henri François Delaborde, near the village of Roliça in Portugal. The French retired in good order. Formerly spelled ''Roleia'' in English, it was the first battle fought by the British army during the Peninsular War. Background The British intervention started with the Battle of Roliça. In the months after occupying Portugal, Napoleon attempted the conquest and control of Spain. He met much resistance but it was disorganised even when it was effective. By the end of July the Spanish had met the French a dozen times, winning, or at least not losing, at seven of those meetings. Their most spectacular victory was in southern Spain on 23 July 1808, when General Castaños surrounded and forced 18,000 French under General Dupont to surrender at Baylen. On 30 July 1808, the French division of General Louis H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of the United Kingdom. He is among the commanders who won and ended the Napoleonic Wars when the coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Wellesley was born in Dublin into the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. He was commissioned as an ensign in the British Army in 1787, serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive lords lieutenant of Ireland. He was also elected as a member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons. He was a colonel by 1796 and saw action in the Netherlands and in India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam. He was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore in 1799 and, as a newly appointed major-general, won a decisive victory over the Maratha Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South America's southeastern coast. "Buenos Aires" can be translated as "fair winds" or "good airs", but the former was the meaning intended by the founders in the 16th century, by the use of the original name "Real de Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Ayre", named after the Madonna of Bonaria in Sardinia, Italy. Buenos Aires is classified as an alpha global city, according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) 2020 ranking. The city of Buenos Aires is neither part of Buenos Aires Province nor the Province's capital; rather, it is an autonomous district. In 1880, after decades of political infighting, Buenos Aires was federalized and removed from Buenos Aires Province. The city limits were enlarged to include t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
