Sir Henry Oakes (1756–1827), 2nd baronet was a lieutenant-general in the East India Company's service.

Early life

Henry Oakes was born on 11 July 1756 and was the younger brother of

Hildebrand Oakes Lieutenant-General Sir Hildebrand Oakes, 1st Baronet, GCB (19 January 1754 – 9 September 1822) was a British Army officer. Military career Oakes was commissioned into the 33rd Regiment of Foot in 1767 and served in the American War of Inde ...

(1754–1822), the 1st Baronet.

Career

On 8 February 1775, Oakes received an Indian cadetship, and was appointed a second lieutenant in the

Bombay Army The Bombay Army was the army of the Bombay Presidency, one of the three presidencies of Presidencies and provinces of British India, British India. It was established in 1662 and governed by the East India Company until the Government of India A ...

on 18 May 1775. He served two campaigns in Guzerat in 1775–6, in the expedition to Poonah in 1778, and at the sieges of

Tellicherry Thalassery (), formerly Tellicherry, is a municipality, Commercial City on the Malabar Coast in Kannur district, in the state of Kerala, India, bordered by the districts of Mahé (Pondicherry), Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kasaragod and Kodagu (Karna ...

, Onore, Bangalore, and Bednore in 1780–1. Oakes was adjutant-general of the force, under General Mathews, that surrendered at the

Siege of Bednore The siege of Bednore was a battle of the Second Anglo-Mysore War. The British had captured Bednore (modern day Nagara) and other strongholds in the Malabar coast from Mysore in early 1783, while the Mysore leader, Tipu Sultan, was leading his arm ...

on 28 April 1783, and was carried off prisoner by Tippoo Sultaun. When Tippoo released the prisoners in 1784, Oakes was appointed by the Madras government captain-commandant of a battalion of

sepoy ''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its oth ...

s (10 June 1784), and, when the battalion was disbanded, returned to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

to command the grenadiers of the 2nd Bombay Europeans, whence he was transferred to the 12th Bombay Native Infantry in September 1788, and took the field with that corps in 1790, serving first as quarter-master-general, and afterwards as commissary of supplies. He was with his battalion at the sieges of Cananore and Seringapatam in 1790, was detached with a separate force to Kolapore in Malabar, and was afterwards with the troops under Major Cappage in October 1791. In 1792, Oakes was appointed deputy adjutant-general of the Bombay army, received the style of adjutant-general in 1796, and returned home on sick furlough in 1788, having attained the rank of major on 6 May 1795, and lieutenant-colonel on 8 January 1796. He went out again in 1802, and was appointed colonel of the

7th Bombay Native Infantry The 107th Pioneers were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. Their origin can be traced back to 1788, when they were raised as the 4th Battalion, Bombay Sepoys. The regiments first action was in the Third Anglo-Mysore War. They also ...

, but was compelled to return home through ill-health. He went to India once more in 1807 as military auditor-general at Bombay, but was again obliged to return home. He became a major-general on 25 July 1810, a lieutenant-general on 4 June 1814, and succeeded his brother as second baronet in 1822.

Family

Henry Oakes married, on 9 December 1792, Dorothea, daughter of General George Bowles of Mount Prospect, co. Cork, by whom he had four sons and three daughters. *Sir Henry Thomas Oakes, 3rd Baronet (1795–1850) :Fought at the 1815

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 ...

with the

52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot The 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot was a light infantry regiment of the British Army throughout much of the 18th and 19th centuries. The regiment first saw active service during the American War of Independence, and were posted to India du ...

. On 1 May 1817, he married Frances, 5th daughter of William Douglas, of Teddington, Middlesex, and had issue. Succeeded his father in 1827 and died 30 September 1850. Oakes senior, whose constitution had been completely undermined in India, was subject to fits of insanity, in one of which he destroyed himself. His death took place at his residence at Mitcham, Surrey, on 1 November 1827. His wife Dorothea, died on 24 May 1837.

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oakes, Henry 1756 births 1827 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom