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 ...

Thomas Dundas (30 June 1750 – 3 June 1794) was a British military officer, politician, and

Governor of Guadeloupe (Dates in italics indicate ''de facto'' continuation of office) Note: currently, the prefect is not the true departmental head, which is the President of the General Council. The prefect is merely the representative of the national government. ...

. He held a seat 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 ...

between 1771 and 1790.

Life

Born the son of Thomas Dundas of Fingask, Dundas was educated at

Edinburgh High School The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves 1,200 pupils drawn from four feeder primar ...

and entered the

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 ...

in 1766, rising to Major of the 65th Foot.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> He was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for the Stewartry of Orkney & Shetland in 1771 retaining the seat until 1780. As

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 colone ...

of the 80th Foot he saw action in the

American Revolutionary War 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 ...

, serving under

Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold ( Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defect ...

in the raid against Richmond. Under Arnold and

William Phillips William Phillips may refer to: Entertainment * William Phillips (editor) (1907–2002), American editor and co-founder of ''Partisan Review'' * William T. Phillips (1863–1937), American author * William Phillips (director), Canadian film-make ...

, he was present at the capture of Williamsburg,

Blandford Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this was abolished and i ...

, the attack on Osborne's, and Manchester. Then he passed under the command of Chrarles Cornwallis. He commanded the left wing at Green Spring. With

Banastre Tarleton Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet, GCB (21 August 175415 January 1833) was a British general and politician. He is best known as the lieutenant colonel leading the British Legion at the end of the American Revolution. He later served in Portug ...

, he was bottled up by the

Marquis de Choisy Claude Gabriel, Marquis de Choissey (french: Claude Gabriel de Choisy) was a French general who served in Poland in the 1770s, and then in North America during the American Revolutionary War. De Choissey was at the Siege of Yorktown in command o ...

at Gloucester during the

siege of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...

. Assigned as joint commissioner for carrying out the capitulation, he was made a prisoner of war after the fall of Yorktown. He was promoted to Colonel on 20 November 1782. After repatriation, he was appointed to the board of commission in 1782 to examine claims for compensation to those "who having remained loyal to the mother country, had suffered in their rights, properties and profession." Thomas Dundas memorial, St Paul's Cathedral

Thomas Dundas memorial, St Paul's Cathedral

Dundas married Lady Elizabeth Eleanora Home (d. 1837), daughter of Alexander, ninth Earl Home, on 9 January 1784. He was elected MP for Orrkney again in 1784 and sat until 1790. Dundas was briefly

Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey The Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown dependency of the British Crown. The role of the Lieutenant Governor is to act as the ''de facto'' head of state in Guernsey ...

in 1793. He was promoted to Major General on 12 October 1793. After the outbreak of the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

, he 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 ...

, commanding the 2nd Brigade under Charles Grey in Barbados in 1794. He served in the second invasion of Martinique in February and commanded the military forces under John Jervis in the invasion of Guadeloupe, landing on 12 April and capturing

Grande-Terre Grande-Terre Island (french: île de Grande-Terre / île de la Grande-Terre; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwantè) is the name of the eastern-half of Guadeloupe proper, in the Lesser Antilles. It is separated from the other half of Guadeloupe ...

. After accepting the French surrender on 20 April, he was made

, but died on 3 June of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

and was buried in the primary bastion of Fort Maltilde. When the French later regained possession of the island

Victor Hugues Jean-Baptiste Victor Hugues sometimes spelled Hughes (July 20, 1762 in Marseille – August 12, 1826 in Cayenne) was a French politician and colonial administrator during the French Revolution, who governed Guadeloupe from 1794 to 1798, emancipa ...

issued a declaration on 10 December, which stated "That the body of Thomas Dundas, interred in Guadeloupe, shall be taken up and given as prey to the birds of the air." This aroused great outrage in England and prompted a memorial in

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

. This was erected in 1805 and was sculpted by John Bacon.Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis

References

* Dictionary of National Biography * Christopher Hibbert: ''Redcoats and Rebels: The War for America, 1770-1781'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Dundas, Thomas 1750 births 1794 deaths British Army major generals British Army personnel of the American Revolutionary War British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars South Staffordshire Regiment officers 65th Regiment of Foot officers 68th Regiment of Foot officers Deaths from yellow fever Infectious disease deaths in France People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Governors of Guadeloupe Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1768–1774