General William John Arabin (1750–1827) was an 18th/19th century British Army commander of Irish/French descent who was a flamboyant figure during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. In the terminology of the day, he was a "

macaroni Macaroni (, Italian: maccheroni) is dry pasta shaped like narrow tubes.Oxford DictionaryMacaroni/ref> Made with durum wheat, macaroni is commonly cut in short lengths; curved macaroni may be referred to as elbow macaroni. Some home machines ...

Life

He was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

on 27 December 1750, the son of Colonel John Arabin (1703–1757) famed for raising the

57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot The 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot was a regiment of line infantry in the British Army, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot to form the Middlesex Regiment in 1881. ...

at the onset of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

, and his French wife Jeanne Marie Bertin. In 1789 he was a Colonel in 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 ...

. He was promoted to Major General in 1798. In 1812 he was living in West Drayton and was involved in a court case at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

when he prosecuted a local man, William Little, for stealing a fowl worth 18 old pence (£0.08). Little was found Not Guilty. In 1819 he purchased the Lind estate which sat on the shoreline near

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...

on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

. On 4 June 1814 he was promoted to full General. He died on 13 September 1827 in

West Drayton West Drayton is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and from 1929 was part of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District, which became part of Greater London in 1965. The se ...

and was buried at

Parish Church. His tomb was sculpted by Thomas Denman. His will was settled in February 1829 and is held at the National Archive at Kew.

Artistic recognition

General Arabin was portrayed in foppish stance by

James Gillray James Gillray (13 August 1756Gillray, James and Draper Hill (1966). ''Fashionable contrasts''. Phaidon. p. 8.Baptism register for Fetter Lane (Moravian) confirms birth as 13 August 1756, baptism 17 August 1756 1June 1815) was a British caricatur ...

in 1802 at the height of the

Family

He married twice: Firstly to Henrietta Molyneux, daughter of

Sir Capel Molyneux, 3rd Baronet Sir Capel Molyneux, 3rd Baronet PC (Ire) (1717 – August 1797) was an Irish politician. Early life Capel was the son of Sir Thomas Molyneux, 1st Baronet and his second wife Catherine Howard, daughter of Professor Ralph Howard. In 1738 he succ ...

, secondly to Catherine Louisa Le Marchant. Rarely for the times, he divorced his wife Henrietta for adultery with Sir Thomas Sutton of Moulsey in 1786. His second wife Catherine (1771-1834) was from

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

and was twenty years his junior. He had at least six children: *Gustavis Arabin *

William St Julien Arabin William St Julien Arabin (177315 December 1841) was a British lawyer and judge who served as the Judge-Advocate-General of the Army for a three-and-a-half-month period (6 November 183821 February 1839). Early life Arabin was born abroad,''1841 ...

*Mary Elizabeth Arabin *Alfred Arabin *Laura Mary Caroline Arabin *Admiral Septimus Arabinus Arabin (1798–1856) He had at least one illegitimate son: Thomas born in 1820, the son of Jane Kemp, a servant at his mansion at Ryde.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arabin, William John 1750 births 1827 deaths People from Dublin (city) British generals