General Sir William Henry Sewell, (c.1786 – 13 March 1862) was a senior officer in the British Army. Sewell was of unclear parentage, and according to some reports, was an illegitimate son of the Prince Regent (later

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

). He was raised however by Robert Sewell and his wife Sarah. He was 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 ...

and

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

under the name of W.H. Robertson and joined the British Army in 1806 as an ensign in the 96th Foot under the name of William Henry Sewell. He then exchanged to the

16th Light Dragoons The 16th The Queen's Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, before being amalgamated with the 5th Royal Irish Lancers to form the 16th/5th Lancers in 1922. History Early war ...

and rose through the ranks, via different regiments, to be Lieutenant-Colonel of the

6th Foot The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, previously titled the 6th Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. The regiment saw service in many conflicts and wars, including the Second Boer Wa ...

in 1817. He was appointed aide-de-camp to General Beresford, going with him in 1808 to 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 present with Sir John Moore's army at Corunna, Talavera, Busaco,

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 ...

Nive The Nive (; eu, Errobi; oc, Niva) is a French river that flows through the French Basque Country. It is a left tributary of the river Adour. It is long. The river's source in the Pyrenees in Lower Navarre. The river Nive was made famous by th ...

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

, Orthes,

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 ...

and the sieges of

Ciudad Rodrigo Ciudad Rodrigo () is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population in 2016 of 12,896. It is also the seat of a judicial district. The site of Ciudad Rodrigo, perched atop a rocky rise on the right bank ...

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The population ...

, as well as several other minor engagements. After serving on Lord Beresford's staff in Maida and South America in 1807 he stayed on to command a Portuguese cavalry regiment from 1816 to 1818. Following his return from the Peninsula, he served in India from 1828 to 1854 successively as Deputy Quartermaster General in command at Bangalore, divisional commander at Madras and finally Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army. He transferred from the

to the 94th Foot in 1841 and was made Major-General in that regiment in 1846. In 1854 he returned to England and was made Colonel for life of the 79th Regiment of Foot (Cameron Highlanders), promoted to Lieutenant-General and knighted CB. He retired in 1856 and in 1861 was elevated to KCB and promoted full General on 26 November of that year. He died in Florence in 1862 and was buried at the Protestant Cemetery there. He had married Georgiana Hacking Hamilton, the second daughter of

Sir John Hamilton-Dalrymple, 5th Baronet Sir John Hamilton-Dalrymple, 5th Baronet (2 December 1780 – 26 May 1835) was a Scottish politician and the MP for Haddington Burghs between 1805 and 1806. He was the second son of Sir Hew Dalrymple, 3rd Baronet, and the younger brother of Sir H ...

, in 1831 St George's Cathedral, Madras. They had several sons and daughters, of whom Henry Robert and John Dalrymple William also became officers in the Army. His Great-Grandson, William Fane Sewell, served as a private in the 4th Battalion,

Seaforth Highlanders The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, mainly associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The regiment existed from 1881 to 1961, and saw servic ...

during the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was killed in Action on 11 March 1915 and has no known grave. He is commemorated on the

Le Touret Memorial The Le Touret Memorial is a World War I memorial, located near the former commune of Richebourg-l'Avoué, in the Pas-de-Calais region of France. The memorial lists 13,389 names of British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave who were kill ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sewell, William Henry 1862 deaths Date of birth uncertain People educated at Westminster School, London British Army generals People educated at Eton College Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath 96th Regiment of Foot officers 16th The Queen's Lancers officers Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders officers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Portuguese military officers Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers officers Connaught Rangers officers