Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir Robert Lawrence Dundas (27 July 1780 – 23 November 1844) was a British Whig and military commander 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 ...

. He was a Member of Parliament in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

representing Malton from 1807 to 1812,

East Retford East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

from 1826 to 1827, and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

from 1828 to 1834 and from 1839 to 1841.

Early life and family

Dundas was born in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, the seventh son of Thomas Dundas and Lady Charlotte Fitzwilliam. His grandfathers were

Sir Lawrence Dundas, 1st Baronet Sir Lawrence Dundas, 1st Baronet (c. 1710 – 21 September 1781) was a Scottish businessman, landowner and politician. Life He was the son of Thomas Dundas and Bethia Baillie. He made his first fortune as Commissary General: supplying goods to ...

and

William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam William FitzWilliam, 3rd Earl FitzWilliam (15 January 1719/20 – 10 August 1756) was a British peer, nobleman, and politician. He was the son of John Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam by his wife Anne, daughter of John Stringer of Sutton cum L ...

. His father succeeded to the baronetcy in 1781 and in 1794 was raised to the peerage as Baron Dundas. His elder brothers were

Lawrence Dundas, 1st Earl of Zetland Lawrence Dundas, 1st Earl of Zetland (10 April 1766 – 19 February 1839) was a Scottish MP who sat in the House of Commons from 1790 to 1820 when he was raised to the peerage. Early life Dundas was the son of Thomas Dundas, 1st Baron Dunda ...

(1766–1839), Charles Lawrence Dundas (1771–1810), and Rear Admiral

George Heneage Lawrence Dundas George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

(1778–1834).

Career

Dundas entered the British Army on 1 December 1797 as a second lieutenant. He served as an engineer officer in the

Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland The Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland (or Anglo-Russian expedition to Holland, or Helder Expedition) was a military campaign from 27 August to 19 November 1799 during the War of the Second Coalition, in which an expeditionary force of British and ...

. He became lieutenant in 1800 and the following year he served in Egypt against the

French campaign The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...

, including the Battle of Alexandria. He was promoted to captain in 1802 and major in 1804. In 1805, he served in the north of Germany with the

Royal Staff Corps The Royal Staff Corps was a corps of the British Army responsible for military engineering which was founded in and disbanded in . At the time, the Royal Engineers and Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners were administered as part of the Board o ...

. During the

, he saw action at the Battles of Talavera (1809), Buçaco (1810), Fuentes de Oñoro (1811),

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 ...

(1812),

Vitoria Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

(1813), the Pyrenees (1813), the

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 ...

(1813), the Nive (1813), 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). For his services in the Peninsular War, he 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 Gold Cross and three clasps and was appointed a Knight of the Portuguese

Order of the Tower and Sword The Ancient and Most Noble Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of the Valour, Loyalty and Merit ( pt, Antiga e Muito Nobre Ordem Militar da Torre e Espada, do Valor, Lealdade e Mérito), before 1910 Royal Military Order of the Tower an ...

in 1814 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 1815. Dundas was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1811, full Colonel in 1821, Major-General in 1830 and Lieutenant-General in 1841. In June 1840, he was made colonel of the

59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot The 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1755 in response to the threat of renewed war with France. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regimen ...

Personal life

Dundas was unmarried. He died at his home at

Loftus Hall Loftus Hall is a large country house on the Hook peninsula, County Wexford, Ireland. Built on the site of the original Redmond Hall, it is said to have been haunted by the devil and the ghost of a woman. Loftus Hall has a long history of own ...

in Yorkshire, aged 64.

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dundas, Robert Lawrence 1780 births 1844 deaths Robert Lawrence British Army lieutenant generals British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs 1830–1831 UK MPs 1837–1841 Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Younger sons of barons Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Recipients of the Army Gold Cross Recipients of the Army Gold Medal Recipients of the Order of the Tower and Sword Royal Engineers officers Royal Staff Corps officers 59th Regiment of Foot officers