Lieutenant-General Sir Hildebrand Oakes, 1st Baronet, GCB (19 January 1754 – 9 September 1822) was a

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 ...

officer.

Military career

Oakes was commissioned into the 33rd Regiment of Foot in 1767 and served in the American War of Independence under

Lord Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...

.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> He became deputy quartermaster-general in Corsica in May 1794, quartermaster-general in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

in June 1794 and quartermaster-general in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in December 1796. He served in the

Egyptian Campaign The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, proclaimed to defend French trade interests, to establish scientific enterprise in the region. It was the pr ...

in 1800 as second-in-command under Sir John Moore. He went on to be brigadier-general at

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in October 1802, Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth and General Officer Commanding South-West District in November 1804 and a commissioner of military inquiry in June 1805. After that he became quartermaster-general in the Mediterranean in July 1806, commander of the Malta garrison in March 1808 and Civil Commissioner of Malta in May 1810. In his final months as Civil Commissioner of Malta, Oakes was responsible for dealing with a plague epidemic that devastated the islands. Prior to the outbreak of the disease, Oakes had already expressed his wish to resign the post on the grounds of his own poor health. He took measures to contain the epidemic, and by the time he left office on 5 October 1813 the epidemic had begun to subside. He was the last person to hold the office of Civil Commissioner, since his successor Thomas Maitland was given the title of

Governor of Malta A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

(a post which had been offered to Oakes but which he had declined). He was appointed

Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance The Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance was a member of the British Board of Ordnance and the deputy of the Master-General of the Ordnance. The office was established in 1545, and the holder was appointed by the crown under letters patent. It ...

in January 1814 and died in office in that post. Oakes was also

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

of the 52nd Regiment of Foot.

Family

In 1818, Oakes' daughter Antonia married John Wildman, younger brother of Colonel

Thomas Wildman Colonel Thomas Wildman (1787 – 1859) was a British Army officer during the Napoleonic Wars, a draftsman, and landowner. Life He was the eldest son of Thomas Wildman of Bacton Hall, Suffolk, by Sarah, daughter of Henry Hardinge, of Durham ...

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Oakes, Hildebrand 1754 births 1822 deaths 33rd Regiment of Foot officers 52nd Regiment of Foot officers Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British Army generals British Army personnel of the American Revolutionary War British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Governors and Governors-General of Malta Military personnel from Exeter