Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Sir John Braithwaite, 1st Baronet (3 February 1739 – 16 August 1803) was Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army.

Background

He was born in

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, the only son of Colonel John Braithwaite (1696–1740), author, soldier and diplomat, and his wife Silvia Cole (1714–1799), daughter of William Cole of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. He was only a year old when his father, returning home, was killed when the ship he was travelling on was attacked by a Spanish

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

, "the Biscaya", off the

Scilly Isles The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...

: he was reported to have been murdered in cold blood after the ship surrendered. His mother remarried Reverend Thomas Winstanley.

Military career

Educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, Braithwaite was commissioned as an

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 53rd Regiment of Foot on 6 November 1765. Promoted to

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

on 22 October 1772, he seized the

Maharaja of Vizianagram Vizianagaram Estate was a zamindari of the Madras Presidency in India. The name is derived from its founder Raja Viziaram Raz (Vijayaram Raj) who established a sovereign kingdom by claiming independence from the Kingdom of Jeypore in 1711. It for ...

's fort during a local dispute on 28 August 1777. He was then given command of a brigade which included one battalion of Europeans, the 3rd Carnatic Battalion, the 4th Carnatic Battalion and the 20th Carnatic Battalion: with this army he defeated a French force at Mahé in March 1779. In the summer of 1780

Hyder Ali Hyder Ali ( حیدر علی, ''Haidarālī''; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the at ...

invaded the Carnatic with over 60,000 men precipitating the

Second Anglo-Mysore War The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company from 1780 to 1784. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the conflict between Britain against the French and Dutch in ...

: he took Braithwaite prisoner at

Seringapatam Srirangapatna is a town and headquarters of one of the seven Taluks of Mandya district, in the Indian State of Karnataka. It gets its name from the Ranganthaswamy temple consecrated at around 984 CE. Later, under the British rule the city wa ...

in February 1782 and held him captive for two years. Braithwaite became acting Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army in August 1792, conducting the successful Siege of Pondicherry in 1793 and remained in that role until 1796. Braithwaite was adjutant-general of the force that defeated

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He i ...

at the Siege of Seringapatam in April 1799 so concluding the

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore against the British East India Company and the Hyderabad Deccan in 1798–99. This was the final conflict of the four Anglo-Mysore Wars. The British captured ...

. He became Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army in January 1800 and, after retiring in 1801, he was created a

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

on 18 December 1802 and died at his home in London in August 1803.

Family

He married Elizabeth Brown, daughter of John Brown and Elizabeth Colleton, daughter of Sir John Colleton, 3rd Baronet, and had one surviving son George-Charles, second and last Baronet, and a daughter Sylvia, who married Charles Parkhurst.George Edward Cokayne, editor, The Complete Baronetage, 5 volumes (no date (c. 1900); reprint, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), volume II, page 123. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Baronetage

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Braithwaite, Sir John, 1st Baronet 1739 births 1803 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom People educated at Westminster School, London King's Shropshire Light Infantry officers British military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Mysore War British military personnel of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War British East India Company Army generals