Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

Francis Hepburn (19August 17797June 1835) was a British Army officer who served 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 ...

and commanded the 3rd Foot Guards at 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 ...

on 18June 1815.

Family background

His grandfather, James Hepburn, of Brecarton and Keith Marshall, spent his fortune on the Stuart cause and had two sons. The eldest, Robert became a lieutenant-colonel in the Enniskillen Dragoons while the younger, David was Francis' father from his marriage to Bertha Graham of the Inchbrakie family. David was a Colonel of Infantry who saw action at the siege Belleisle in 1761 before he was forced to retire from the service due to health problems. Francis' elder brother James became a civil servant with the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

Military career

Hepburn joined the 3rd Foot Guards of the British Army as an

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

on 17December 1794 and was promoted to lieutenant and captain on 28May 1798. He saw service in the

Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced ...

and the following year accompanied the expedition to the Helder in Holland. Promoted to captain and lieutenant-colonel on 23July 1807, at the 1811

Battle of Barrosa The Battle of Barrosa (Chiclana, 5 March 1811, also known as the Battle of Chiclana or Battle of Cerro del Puerco) was part of an unsuccessful manoeuvre by an Anglo-Iberian force to break the French siege of Cádiz during the Peninsular Wa ...

he was seriously wounded in the leg by a musket ball but refused amputation knowing that it would cut short his military career. Nevertheless, he was forced to return home owing to the injury and did not arrive back in the Iberian Peninsula until the autumn of 1812 when he took charge of a small corps of

sharpshooter A sharpshooter is one who is highly proficient at firing firearms or other projectile weapons accurately. Military units composed of sharpshooters were important factors in 19th-century combat. Along with " marksman" and "expert", "sharpshooter" ...

s. He saw further action at the battles of Vittoria,

Nivelle Nivelle () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department * Nivelle Offensive The Nivelle offensive (16 April – 9 May 1917) was a Franco-British operation on the Western Front ...

and the

Nive The Nive (; eu, Errobi; oc, Niva) is a French river that flows through the French Basque Country. It is a left tributary of the river Adour. It is long. The river's source in the Pyrenees in Lower Navarre. The river Nive was made famous by t ...

during the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

, for which he received the

Army Gold Medal The Army Gold Medal (1808–1814), also known as the Peninsular Gold Medal, with an accompanying Gold Cross, was a British campaign medal awarded in recognition of field and general officers' successful commands in campaigns, predominantly the Pe ...

and one clasp. In 1814 he was ordered home to take command of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Foot Guards in preparation for the forthcoming expedition to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, but due to adverse winds he arrived too late. He remained in England until June 1815 before joining

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. He saw action at

Quatre Bras Quatre Bras (, French for crossroads; literally "four arms") is a hamlet in the municipality of Genappe, Wallonia, Belgium. It lies on the crossroad of the Charleroi-Brussels road (currently named N5) and the Nivelles-Namur road south of Genappe ...

on the 16June and on the 17th then on the 18th commanded the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Guards at the Battle of Waterloo. Early on in the action he was ordered to Château d'Hougoumont to reinforce Colonel Macdonnell and

Lord Saltoun Lord Saltoun, of Abernethy, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1445 for Sir Lawrence Abernethy. The title remained in the Abernethy family until the death in 1669 of his descendant the tenth Lady Saltoun. She was succeeded ...

, where he defended the orchard and wood at a heavy cost in both officers and men. A mistake in subsequent despatches omitted Hepburn's name from the official account of the action. Nevertheless, he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) and received both the Order of Wilhelm from the King of the Netherlands and the 4th class of the

Order of St Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir (russian: орден Святого Владимира) was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptize ...

from the Russians. After the cessation of hostilities, Hepburn remained in France as part of the Army of Occupation commanding 2nd Battalion, 3rd Foot Guards as part of the 2nd British Brigade, 1st British Division.

Personal life

In July, 1820 Hepburn married Henrietta, elder daughter and heir of Sir Henry Poole, 5th and last baronet of Poole, Cheshire. Henrietta died in Chorley, Lancashire on 5October 1862 aged 72.

Death

He died on 7June 1835 in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...

, Kent.

References

; Bibliography * * * * ; Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Hepburn, Francis 1779 births 1835 deaths British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Scots Guards officers Companions of the Order of the Bath Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class Recipients of the Waterloo Medal Knights Fourth Class of the Military Order of William