Lt-General Sir Henry Goldfinch (24 November 1781''England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975'' – 21 November 1854) was an officer in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

who served 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 ...

of 1807 to 1814, ending his career as one of the colonels commandant of the Corps of Royal Engineers. He was appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

(CB) in 1815 and a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(KCB) in 1852. Harry Goldfinch was born in London, the son of Henry Goldfinch and his wife, Ann Paterson or Patterson. He was educated at

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

and the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

. He joined the army in 1796 as an officer in the Royal Engineers and served at Hanover (1805) and at the Battle of Copenhagen (1807). He served with distinction during the Peninsular War from May 1809 to April 1814Henry Goldfinch – The Napoleon Series
/ref> and was present at the battles of Talavera (1809), Bussaco (1810), Vittoria (1813),

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

(1813),

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 th ...

(1813),

Orthez Orthez (; eu, Ortheze; oc, Ortès, ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, and region of New Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies 40 km NW of Pau on the Southern railway to Bayonne. The town also encompasses the sma ...

(1814) and

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

(1814).Lieut.-Genl. Sir Henry Goldfinch KCB on John Clarke's Brookwood Cemetery website
/ref> He was captured at the Battle of Porto (1809) but managed to escape. Goldfinch was promoted to second lieutenant (1798), first lieutenant (1800), second captain (1805), captain (1807), brevet major (1812), brevet lieutenant-colonel (1813), lieutenant-colonel (1814), colonel (1837), major-general (1841), lieutenant-general (1851) and colonel commandant (1854). He received the Gold Cross for Vittoria, Nive, Orthez and Toulouse and the

Military General Service Medal __NOTOC__ The Military General Service Medal (MGSM) was a campaign medal approved in 1847 and issued to officers and men of the British Army in 1848.Including officers and men of the King's German Legion, Brunswick Oels and Chasseurs Britanniques, ...

with three clasps for Talavera, Busaco, and the Pyrenees. With his wife, Catherine Elizabeth (née Thomas), he had two sons, Henry Robert Goldfinch and John Howard Goldfinch, as well as two daughters, Mary Louisa Goldfinch and Catherine Elizabeth Goldfinch. He died at his home at 11

Upper Wimpole Street Wimpole Street is a street in Marylebone, central London. Located in the City of Westminster, it is associated with private medical practice and medical associations. No. 1 Wimpole Street is an example of Edwardian baroque architecture, compl ...

, London, on 21 November 1854, aged 73, and was buried at

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regist ...

on 25 November 1854, just two weeks after the cemetery opened, being the 29th person to be buried there. His is the oldest surviving memorial anywhere within the cemetery.'Brookwood – the largest cemetery in Britain'
–

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

– 27 August 2010

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldfinch, Henry 1781 births 1854 deaths Royal Engineers officers People educated at Tonbridge School Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Burials at Brookwood Cemetery British Army personnel of the Peninsular War British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Recipients of the Army Gold Cross Companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath