General William Edmeston (died 1804) was a British Army officer who owned an estate in New York State. As a captain in the

48th Regiment of Foot The 48th (Northamptonshire) Regiment of Foot was a regiment of the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1881. History Early ...

, he was posted to North America in 1755 with his brother, Lieutenant Robert Edmeston, to fight in the French and Indian War. In 1763, by royal proclamation, the brothers were each awarded 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land in the colonies for their military service. They attempted to establish their claims in what was then a disputed part of the New Hampshire Grants, now Vermont. However, in 1770 they decided to locate on the east bank of the

Unadilla River The Unadilla River is a river in the Central New York Region of New York State. The river begins northeast of the hamlet of Millers Mills and flows generally south to the village of Sidney, where it converges with the Susquehanna River, which d ...

in New York State just west of George Croghan's Otsego patent, in what is now the Town of Edmeston in Otsego County. They established their homes on the land, which became known as the Mount Edmeston Tracts. The transactions were facilitated by Percifer Carr, who had been a sergeant in the 48th with Edmeston and when the Edmeston brothers later returned to England, Carr would be employed as caretaker of their land. When the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

broke out in 1775 Edmonston was arrested by the Americans and sent to Boston to be exchanged, after which he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the 48th Foot. He was captured by a French privateer in 1779, but he made his way to England the following year and spent the remainder of the war serving in Europe as a lieutenant-colonel, first with the 48th Foot but from 1782 to 1783 with the

50th Foot The 50th (Queen's Own) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 97th (The Earl of Ulster's) Regiment of Foot to form the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment ...

. Between 1793 and 1796 he was the Colonel of the short-lived 95th Regiment of Foot and in 1802 he was appointed Colonel of the 1st

Royal Veteran Battalion Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ...

. He was promoted full general in 1803. He died the following year and was buried at Hanwell, Middlesex on 3 July 1804.

References

James H. Pickering, ''New York in the Revolution: Cooper's Wyandotté'' Published in ''New York History, Vol. XLIX, No. 2'' (April 1968)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edmeston, William 1804 deaths British Army generals British Army personnel of the French and Indian War People from Edmeston, New York Year of birth unknown 48th Regiment of Foot officers