Hon. Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, (1 May 1772 – 4 October 1842) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

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 ...

general and politician.

Early life

Cole was the second son of an Irish peer,

William Willoughby Cole, 1st Earl of Enniskillen William Willoughby Cole, 1st Earl of Enniskillen (1 March 1736 – 22 May 1803), styled The Honourable from 1760 to 1767, then known as Lord Mountflorence to 1776 and as Viscount Enniskillen to 1789, was an Irish peer and politician. Enniskille ...

(1 March 1736–22 May 1803), and Anne Lowry-Corry (d. September 1802), the daughter of Galbraith Lowry-Corry of Tyrone, and the sister of Armar Lowry-Corry, 1st Earl Belmore.

Army service

Cole was commissioned a

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

in 12th Dragoon Guards in 1787,. He transferred to 5th Dragoon Guards as a lieutenant in 1791 and to 70th Foot as a captain in 1792, and served in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. He was appointed lieutenant colonel in Ward’s late regiment of foot in 1794 and lieutenant colonel in the late General Villette's corps in 1799, on Full Pay although these units had been disbanded. He was promoted to colonel in the Army in 1801 and served as brigadier general in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and commanded the 1st Brigade at the

Battle of Maida The Battle of Maida, fought on 4 July 1806 was a battle between the British expeditionary force and a French force outside the town of Maida in Calabria, Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. John Stuart led 5,236 Anglo-Sicilian troops to victory ...

on 4 July 1806. In 1808 he was promoted to major-general. In 1809 he was appointed to the staff of the army serving in Spain and Portugal and granted the local rank of lieutenant-general in 1811. This rank was confirmed in the Army in 1813. He commanded the 4th Division 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 ...

under

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 me ...

, and was wounded at the

Battle of Albuera The Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) was a battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi (Army of the South) at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about south ...

in which he played a decisive part. He was also wounded, much more seriously, at

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

. He was promoted to full general in 1830. For having served with distinction in the battles of Maida,

Albuhera The Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) was a battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi (Army of the South) at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about south ...

, Vittoria,

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, he received the Army Gold Cross with four clasps. In 1815 he became General Officer Commanding Northern District. He was appointed Colonel of the 103rd Foot in 1812, 70th Foot in 1814 and 34th Foot in 1816. He subsequently became Governor of Gravesend and Tilbury fort. He was also colonel of the

27th Foot The 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot was an Irish infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1689. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 108th (Madras Infantry) Regiment of Foot to form the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 18 ...

Member of Parliament

He was Member of Parliament in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fra ...

for the family seat of

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , 'Cethlenn, Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of ...

from 1797 to 1800, and represented

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of al ...

in the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

in 1803. He was appointed 2nd Governor of Mauritius from 12 June 1823 to 17 June 1828. He left in 1828 to take up the post of Governor of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

which position he filled until 1833. Cole was knighted in 1813, and was invested as a Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath on 2 January 1815. He is commemorated in

by a statue surmounting a column in Fort Hill Park, carried out by the Irish sculptor, Terence Farrell.

Family

Cole was married on 15 June 1815 to Frances Harris (d. 1 November 1847), daughter of

James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury, GCB (21 April 1746 – 21 November 1820) was an English diplomat. Early life (1746 – 1768) Born at Salisbury, the son of James Harris, an MP and the author of ''Hermes'', and Elizabeth Clarke of Sandfor ...

, for whom

Malmesbury, Western Cape Malmesbury is a town of approximately 36,000 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa, about 65 km north of Cape Town. The town is the largest in the Swartland (‘black land’) which took its name from the Renosterbos ('rhi ...

is named, and Harriet Mary, his wife. His late marriage was attributed by his family to the unhappy outcome of his romance with the future Duchess of Wellington, to whom he had been briefly engaged in 1802-3. Frances Cole played a prominent part in social philanthropy in the Cape and worked towards having

Coloured Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...

children taught useful trades.

Colesberg Colesberg is a town with 17,354 inhabitants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, located on the main N1 road from Cape Town to Johannesburg. In a sheep-farming area spread over half-a-million hectares, greater Colesberg breeds many ...

, a town in the Cape, is named after him, as is

Sir Lowry's Pass Sir Lowry's Pass is a mountain pass on the N2 national road in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It crosses the Hottentots Holland Mountains between Somerset West and the Elgin valley, on the main route between Cape Town and the Gar ...

near Cape Town. They had seven children: * Arthur Lowry Cole, Col. 17th Regiment, C.B., Knight of the Medjidie (''b.'' 24 August 1817 – ''d.'' 30 March 1885) * William Willoughby Cole, Capt. 27th Regiment (''b.'' 17 November 1819 – ''d.'' 4 April 1863) * James Henry Cole (''b.'' 15 December 1821) * Florence Mary Georgiana Cole (''b.'' 4 June 1816) * Louisa Catherine Cole (''b.'' 16 August 1818 – ''d.'' 14 October 1878, aged 60) * Frances Maria Frederica Cole (''b.'' 9 April 1824) * Henrietta Anne Paulina Cole (''b.'' 6 October 1826) His elder brother John Willoughby Cole (23 March 1768–31 March 1840) married Charlotte Paget (d. 26 January 1817), the daughter of

Henry Bayly Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge Henry Bayly-Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge (18 June 1744 – 13 March 1812), known as Henry Bayly until 1769 and as Lord Paget between 1769 and 1784, was a British peer. Early life Born Henry Bayly, Uxbridge was the eldest son of Sir Nicholas Bay ...

. His sisters were: * Sarah Cole (d. 14 March 1833), married (1790) Owen Wynne * Elizabeth Anne Cole (d. 1807), married (1788) Colonel Richard Magenis (d. 6 March 1831) * Florence Cole (d. 1 March 1862), married (1797) Blayney Townley Balfour of

Townley Hall Townley Hall is a Georgian country house which stands in parkland at Tullyallen some 5 km west of Drogheda, County Louth in the Republic of Ireland. It was designed by Irish architect Francis Johnston for the Townley Balfour family and ...

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

Co. Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

(d. 22 December 1856) * Henrietta Frances Cole (22 June 1784–2 July 1848), married (20 July 1805) Thomas Philip Robinson, 2nd Earl de Grey (8 December 1781–14 November 1859) He lived at

Highfield House, Heckfield Highfield House, also known as Highfield Park, is an early 18th-century Queen Anne style country house in Heckfield, Hampshire, England. A Grade II* listed building, it is now a hotel and venue centre. It is built in brick with Bath stone dressi ...

in Hampshire, adjacent to the Stratfield Saye estate of his friend the Duke of Wellington.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Enniskillen
at nidirect.gov.uk

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Lowry 1772 births 1842 deaths People from Hart District 19th-century Irish people 19th-century Anglo-Irish people Irish soldiers in the British Army 27th Regiment of Foot officers British Army generals British Army commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Cole family (Anglo-Irish aristocracy) Governors of British Mauritius Governors of the Cape Colony Irish MPs 1798–1800 Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Fermanagh constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Fermanagh constituencies (1801–1922) Military personnel from Dublin (city) Politicians from Dublin (city) Younger sons of earls Recipients of the Army Gold Cross UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs 1820–1826