General Sir Abraham Josias Cloëté KCB (7 August 1794 – 26 October 1886) was an

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...

senior officer in the British Army. He was born in Cape Town, the son of Pieter Lourens Cloëté, member of the council of the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

, and Catharina Maria Van Zeeman. On 29 January 1809, he joined the British Army as a cornet in the 16th Hussars. He transferred to the

15th Hussars The 15th The King's Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army. First raised in 1759, it saw service over two centuries, including the First World War, before being amalgamated with the 19th Royal Hussars into the 15th/19th The King's Roya ...

on their return from Corunna, serving with them during the Burdett riots of 1810 and the Luddite disturbances in the Midlands and Lancashire of the following years. In 1813 he exchanged as a captain to the

21st Light Dragoons The 21st Light Dragoons was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was raised on 5 April 1760, as the 21st Light Dragoons (Royal Foresters) by John, Marquis of Granby, and Lord Robert Manners-Sutton. This first regiment was however disbanded ...

at the Cape, where he acted as aide-de-camp to the newly appointed governor, Lord Charles Somerset. Whilst stationed there he commanded a military detachment, made up of volunteers from regiments at the Cape, which occupied the remote desert island of Tristan da Cunha soon after the arrival of the

Emperor Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

and also fought a duel with the army surgeon James Barry. He rose through the ranks to lieutenant (17 May 1810) and captain (5 November 1812). In 1817, he went with his regiment to India, serving with a squadron employed as a field force in Cuttack, on the frontiers of Orissa and Bihar, during the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817–19. The 21st Dragoons (except a detachment on Saint Helena) were disbanded in England in May 1819 and Cloëté was placed on half-pay. In 1820, he was occupied as deputy-assistant quartermaster-general, in superintending the landing and settling of a large body of government immigrants, known as

1820 Settlers The 1820 Settlers were several groups of British colonists from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, settled by the government of the United Kingdom and the Cape Colony authorities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 1820. Origins After th ...

, on the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony. In 1822 he was sent home with important despatches, made brevet major on 21 November 1822, and appointed town-major of Cape Town, a post he held until 1840. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 10 January 1837 and given the honour of KH. In 1840 he was appointed deputy quartermaster-general at the Cape, and retained the post until 1854, by which time he had been promoted Colonel (11 November 1851). In 1842, he was sent with reinforcements from Cape Town to relieve a small force under Captain Smith of the

27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot The 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot was an Irish infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1689. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 108th (Madras Infantry) Regiment of Foot to form the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 18 ...

, which was besieged by insurgent Boers near Port Natal (now Durban), when his firm action not only prevented battle, but prepared the way for permanent settlement of the subsequent colony of Natal. He was quartermaster-general in the Xhosa Wars of 1846, was mentioned in despatches, and in 1848 made C.B. He was chief of the staff with the army in the field in the Kaffir war of 1851–3, including the operations in the Basuto country, and at the Battle of Berea, where he commanded a division. He was knighted for his services in 1854. Promoted major-general on the staff (19 January 1856), he commanded the troops in the Windward and

Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...

from 1855 to 1861. He was given the colonelcy for life of the

19th Foot 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...

in 1861 and made KCB in 1862. He became Lieutenant-general on 12 February 1863 and full General on 25 October 1871. He was placed on the retired list in 1877 and died at his London home in 1886. He had married in Barbados, on 8 May 1857, Anne Woollcombe Louis,''Caribbean, Select Marriages, 1591–1905'' the granddaughter of the late Rear-admiral Sir Thomas Louis, baronet, with whom he had a son and a daughter.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cloëté, Abraham Josias 1794 births 1886 deaths 15th The King's Hussars officers 16th The Queen's Lancers officers 21st Lancers officers Afrikaner people British Army generals Green Howards officers Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People from Cape Town Duellists British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Maratha War