George Lewis (March 22, 1735 – February 22, 1791) was a Colonel in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and commander of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

at the

Siege of Gibraltar There have been fourteen recorded sieges of Gibraltar. Although the peninsula of Gibraltar is only long and wide, it occupies an extremely strategic location on the southern Iberian coast at the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It ...

. He served in the several campaigns against the French and Spaniards in America, from 1757 to the end of the war in 1762, and was present at the taking

Louisburgh Louisburgh () is a small town on the southwest corner of Clew Bay in County Mayo, Ireland. It is home to Sancta Maria College and the Gráinne O'Malley Interpretive Centre. Transport Road access Louisburgh is located on the R335 regional ro ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

, and Havannah. He is most famously known for the events that took place on 13 September 1782, at the

, when the artillery under his direction set fire to and destroyed all the

floating batteries A floating battery is a kind of armed watercraft, often improvised or experimental, which carries heavy armament but has few other qualities as a warship. History Use of timber rafts loaded with cannon by Danish defenders of Copenhagen a ...

of the combined forces of France and Spain. For this he was awarded a mark of Royal favour by

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

. He was also a sitter in

The Siege and Relief of Gibraltar ''The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar'' (also called ''The Siege of Gibraltar'', ''The Siege and Relief of Gibraltar'' or ''The Repulse of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar''Nicholson, Benedict. "The Raft of the Medusa from the P ...

John Singleton Copley John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was probably born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Anglo-Irish. Afte ...

Personal life

Lewis was born in Farringdon,

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

to Joshua and Elizabeth Lewis on 22 March 1735 and had one sister. He married Mary Russel on 3 May 1764 and had eight children.

Military service

Lewis fought in many battles including the Battle of Havana and the Siege of Louisbourg. He also commanded a company of the 2nd Battalion,

, during the defense of

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

from 1779 to 1783.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:LEWIS, George British Army personnel of the Seven Years' War 1735 births 1791 deaths Royal Artillery officers