John Andrew Stedman (1778–1833) was general in the Dutch army during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

Biography

Stedman was born at Zutphen in 1778, the son of William George Stedman (a naturalised Dutchman of Scottish descent), and a Dutch mother of noble blood. Stedman received a commission in the Dutch army when only a child. At the early age of sixteen he first saw service with the allied forces, under

Frederick, Duke of York 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 professi ...

and the Prince of Orange (afterwards King

William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, who we ...

) which were employed in 1794 on the northern frontier of France. Stedman's next service was in 1799, when the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic ( nl, Bataafse Republiek; french: République Batave) was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 and ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis Bona ...

was in alliance with France, and the Duke of York commanded the opposing army at Bergen. At a later date he again served against the British at

Walcheren Walcheren () is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Eastern Scheldt in the north and the Western Scheldt in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two ...

. Meanwhile he had held important staff appointments, and, on the incorporation of the Netherlands with France, he became general of brigade in the French army. In this capacity he served for two years in Italy, and was in 1813 present at the battles of Bautzen and

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

. In 1814 he attached himself to the Prince of Orange (afterwards King

William II of the Netherlands William II ( nl, Willem Frederik George Lodewijk, anglicized as William Frederick George Louis; 6 December 1792 – 17 March 1849) was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg. William II was the son of William ...

), and commanded the Dutch troops in the reserve during the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

, with the rank of lieutenant-general. He died at

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

in 1833.

Family

Stedman married Nicola Gertrude van de Poll, granddaughter of the last reigning burgomaster of Amsterdam. Their only son, Charles John William Stedman, became a Prussian subject, settling at Besselich Abbey, near

Coblentz Coblentz is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Clara Rankin Coblentz (1863-1933), American social reformer * Laban Coblentz (b. 1961), American writer and communications specialist * William Coblentz (1873–1962), American s ...

. He was a member of the national assemblies of

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

, and received the title of ''

freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

'' (baron). He had a large family, of which nearly all the sons entered the

Queen Augusta Princess Augusta Marie Luise Katharina of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (30 September 1811 – 7 January 1890) was the queen of Prussia and the first German empress as the consort of William I, German Emperor. Early life Augusta was the second daughter ...

Regiment of Guards A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

; they reverted to the original family name of Barton.

Notes

References

Resources

*John Stedman (1857), ''Memoir of the Family of Barton'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Stedman, John Andrew 1778 births 1833 deaths Dutch generals Dutch military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Dutch people of Scottish descent People from Zutphen