General Sir John Ormsby Vandeleur (1763 – 10 December 1849) was a British Army officer who fought in the

French Revolutionary The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

and

Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

wars.

Biography

Vandeleur, born in 1763, was the son of Richard Vandeleur (died 1772) and Elinor, daughter of John Firman of Firmount. The Vandeleurs, of Dutch origin, came to Ireland in the seventeenth century, and settled at

Kilrush Kilrush () is a coastal town in County Clare, Ireland. It is also the name of a civil parish and an ecclesiastical parish in Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe. It is located near the mouth of the River Shannon in the south-west of the county. ...

, County Clare, where they became the principal landowners. Vandeleur's received a commission as

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 ...

in the

5th Foot The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Raised in 1674 as one of three 'English' units in the Scots_Brigade, Dutch Anglo-Scots Brigade, it accompanied William III of England, William III to England in the ...

in December 1781, and was promoted to lieutenant in the

67th Foot The 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1756. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Hampshire Regiment (later the Ro ...

in 1783. He served with his regiment in the West Indies, and, exchanging in 1788 into the

9th Foot The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

, was promoted to captain on 9 March 1792. In October of the same year, he again exchanged into the

8th Light Dragoons The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1693. It saw service for three centuries including the First and Second World Wars. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces ...

, and was promoted to major on 4 May 1793. In April 1794 Vandeleur went with his regiment to

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

to serve under the

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 ...

, where he took part in the principal actions of the

Flanders Campaign The Flanders Campaign (or Campaign in the Low Countries) was conducted from 20 April 1792 to 7 June 1795 during the first years of the War of the First Coalition. A coalition of states representing the Ancien Régime in Western Europe – Aus ...

, and accompanied the army in its retreat across Holland to Bremen. On the embarkation of the British army for England in April 1795, Vandeleur remained with a small corps under General

Dundas Dundas may refer to: Places Australia * Dundas, New South Wales * Dundas, Queensland, a locality in the Somerset Region * Dundas, Tasmania * Dundas, Western Australia * Fort Dundas, a settlement in the Northern Territory 1824–1828 * Shire of ...

until December. In August 1796 he went to the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

, and served in the operations against the Dutch under Generals Craig and Dundas. On 1 January 1798 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the

. In October 1802 Vandeleur went with his regiment to India, and served as lieutenant-colonel with the local rank of colonel in command of a brigade of cavalry under

Lord Lake Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake (27 July 1744 – 20 February 1808) was a British general. He commanded British forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and later served as Commander-in-Chief of the military in British India. Background He was ...

in the

Second Anglo-Maratha War } The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. Background The British had supported the "fugitive" Peshwa Raghunathrao in the First Anglo-Maratha War, ...

1803–1805. At the

Battle of Laswari The Battle of Laswari took place on 1 November 1803 near Laswari village, Alwar. It was part of the Second Anglo-Maratha War. The British under Gerard Lake were anxious to finish the war by neutralizing the last substantial force that the Marath ...

on 1 November 1803, Vandeleur turned the enemy's left flank and took two thousand prisoners, receiving the thanks of Lord Lake. He was similarly distinguished in November 1804 for the cavalry affair at Fathghar, where the Maratha chief Holkar was surprised and defeated. Equally brilliant were his charge and recapture of artillery at Afzalghar on 2 March 1805. In 1806 Vandeleur returned to England. On 16 April 1807, he exchanged into the

19th Light Dragoons The 19th Light Dragoons was a cavalry regiment of the British Army created in 1781 for service in British India. The regiment served in India until 1806, and in North America during the War of 1812, and was disbanded in Britain in 1821. History ...

, and on 25 April 1808 was promoted to be brevet colonel. On 4 June 1811 he was promoted to major-general, and appointed to command an infantry brigade of the

Light Division The Light Division was a light infantry division of the British Army. Its origins lay in "Light Companies" formed during the late 18th century, to move at speed over inhospitable terrain and protect a main force with skirmishing tactics. These ...

in 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 ...

. Vandeleur led the division, after Craufurd received his mortal wound, to the assault of the breach of Ciudad Rodrigo on 19 January 1812, when he was severely wounded. He nevertheless took part in the

Battle of Salamanca The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of Arapiles) on 22July 1812 was a battle in which an Anglo-Portuguese army under the Earl of Wellington defeated Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces at Arapiles, so ...

on 22 June. In June of the following year, he intercepted a French division and cut off one of its brigades, taking three hundred prisoners and forcing the remainder to disperse in the mountains. On 21 June 1813 he was at the

Battle of Vittoria At the Battle of Vitoria (21 June 1813) a British, Portuguese and Spanish army under the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, eventually leading to ...

, and in the following month was appointed to command a brigade of light dragoons under Sir Thomas Graham (afterwards Lord Lynedoch), and later under Lord Niddry, and he was engaged in all the operations of that column, including the

Battle of the Nive The Battles of the Nive (9–13 December 1813) were fought towards the end of the Peninsular War. Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish army defeated Marshal Nicolas Soult's French army on French soil in ...

. At the close of the Peninsular War he was selected to conduct a division of British cavalry and artillery from Bordeaux to Calais. In October 1814 Vandeleur was appointed to the staff of the British army in Belgium. He was given the colonelcy of the

on 12 January 1815. He commanded the 4th Cavalry Brigade, consisting of the 11th, 12th, and 16th light dragoons, 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 ...

, and from the time that The Earl of Uxbridge was wounded and had to leave the field he commanded, as next senior, the whole of the British cavalry at Waterloo, and during the advance on Paris until

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

entered the capital (on 8 July). For his services in the Peninsula and Belgium, he was made 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 ...

(military division) on 3 January 1815, and 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 officer, field and general officers' successful commands in campaigns, predom ...

with clasps for Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca, Vittoria, and the Nive, and the Silver

Waterloo Medal The Waterloo Medal is a military decoration that was conferred upon every officer, non-commissioned officer and soldier of the British Army (including members of the King's German Legion) who took part in one or more of the following battles: Li ...

. He was also nominated a knight of the second class of the Russian

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 ...

, and a commander of the Bavarian Order of Maximilian Joseph. The 19th Light Dragoons were disbanded in 1820, and in 1823 Vandeleur was given the colonelcy of the

14th Light Dragoons The 14th King's Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1715. It saw service for two centuries, including the First World War, before being amalgamated with the 20th Hussars to form the 14th/20th King's Hussars in 192 ...

, from which on 18 June 1830 he was transferred to the colonelcy of the

16th Lancers The 16th The Queen's Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, before being amalgamated with the 5th Royal Irish Lancers to form the 16th/5th Lancers in 1922. History Early war ...

. He was promoted to lieutenant-general on 19 July 1821, and general on 28 June 1838. He was appointed

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one ...

in 1833. He died on 10 December 1849 at his house in Merrion Square, Dublin.

Family

Vandeleur married a daughter of the Rev. John Glesse in 1829 and the couple had two children, a son and a daughter Ellen who married Colonel Richard Greaves (for some twenty years assistant military secretary to the commander of the forces in Ireland, and afterwards colonel of the

40th Foot The 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1717 in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers ...

Notes

References

* * Attribution: * **War Office Records; **Despatches; **Siborne's ''History of the Waterloo Campaign''; **Napier's ''Peninsular War''; **Thorn's ''Memoir of the War in India 1803–6''; **''United Service Journal'', 1849; **''Gent. Mag.'' 1850; **Royal Military Calendar, 1820; **private sources; **Burke's Landed Gentry.

Biography

Family

Notes

References

Further reading