General Richard Vyse or Vise

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(11 July 1746 – 30 May 1825) was a British general, and briefly a Member of Parliament for

Beverley Beverley is a market and minster town and a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre and north-west of City of Hull. The town is known fo ...

Life

The family's earlier history in Staffordshire is outlined by the editor of Erdeswicke. Vyse was born at

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

the younger son of William Vyse (1710–1770), canon residentiary and treasurer of

and his wife Catherine Smalbroke, and younger brother of William Vyse (1741–1816), canon residentiary and chancellor of Lichfield. He married twice: first, in 1771, he married Anna Susannah Spearman, who died without issue a year later and was buried at St Chad's, Stowe. In 1780, he married Anne, the only surviving daughter and heiress of Field-marshal Sir George Howard and his wife Lucy Wentworth, daughter of Thomas, Earl of Strafford, and became the father of Major-General

Howard Vyse Major General Richard William Howard Howard Vyse (25 July 1784 – 8 June 1853) was a British soldier and Egyptologist. He was also Member of Parliament (MP) for Beverley (from 1807 to 1812) and Honiton (from 1812 to 1818). Family life Richard W ...

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...

and

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religiou ...

, and his sister Georgiana Anne Vyse. Vyse was appointed cornet in the 5th Dragoons on 13 February 1763. He attained the brevet rank of colonel on 7 January 1781, received the command of the

1st Dragoon Guards The 1st King's Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army. The regiment was raised by Sir John Lanier in 1685 as the 2nd Queen's Regiment of Horse, named in honour of Queen Mary, consort of King James II. It was renamed the 2nd K ...

on 28 May 1784, and during the revolutionary war served in Flanders in command of a brigade under the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was ...

. He distinguished himself on several occasions, particularly at the Battle of Beaumont on 26 April 1794, where at the head of two brigades of heavy cavalry, he materially contributed to the victory, and at the evacuation of Ostend, which he superintended on 1 July. Vyse was nominated major-general on 2 October 1794, and lieutenant-general on 1 January 1801. In 1799 he was appointed Commander of Forces in Scotland and based at

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

. During his time in Edinburgh, in 1804, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were

Ninian Imrie Lieutenant-Colonel Ninian Imrie of Denmuir (died 1820) was a Scottish army officer and geologist. He gave the first wholly geological description of the Rock of Gibraltar. He stirred the Plutonist versus Neptunist debate during the Scottish Enl ...

, John Clerk, and

Thomas Charles Hope Thomas Charles Hope (21 July 1766 – 13 June 1844) was a British physician, chemist and lecturer. He proved the existence of the element strontium, and gave his name to Hope's Experiment, which shows that water reaches its maximum density at ...

. In 1805 he left Scotland to become Commanding Officer of the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

district. He was returned to parliament in 1806 for Beverley, but in the following year made way for his son,

. He attained the rank of general on 1 January 1812, and died at Lichfield on 30 May 1825. He filled for some time the office of

comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level execut ...

to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. He was buried in Lichfield Cathedral near his parents: in 1827 his sister Mary (1745-1827), who had become the second wife of

Spencer Madan Spencer Madan (1729–1813) was an English churchman, successively of Bishop of Bristol and Bishop of Peterborough. Life The son of Colonel Martin Madan and Judith Madan of London, and younger brother of Martin Madan, he was sent to Westmin ...

, Lord Bishop of Peterborough, was buried beside him in the same vault. Their sister Catherine in 1768 became the second wife of Sir George Smith, 1st Bart., was widowed in the following year, and died in 1786.B. Redford (ed.), ''The Letters of Samuel Johnson'', Vol II: 1773-1776 (Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey 1992)
p. 222 note 3
(Google), citing A.L. Reade, ''Johnsonian Gleanings'', Vol. 5: The Doctor's Life, 1728-1735 (London 1928), p. 211; Vol. 11: Consolidated Index of Persons (London 1952), p. 436.

Family

He married Anne Howard, daughter of Field Marshall George Howard.

Notes

References

* ;Archival documents
Smalbroke family of Birmingham MS 1098
includes Vyse family at Birmingham City Archives.
Vyse, Richard (1746-1825) MP General 131255
at National Register of Archives. ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Vyse, Richard 1746 births 1825 deaths British Army generals 3rd Dragoon Guards officers 5th Royal Irish Lancers officers 1st The Royal Dragoons officers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1802–1806 People from Lichfield British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars