Sir George Osborn, 4th Baronet (10 May 1742 – 29 June 1818) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer and politician. He fought 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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

as a British officer. He served in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1769 to 1784 - before, during, and after that conflict. In 1777, he led a detachment of the Guards Brigade at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. Besides his combat duties, he served as the inspector of the Hessian mercenary soldiers. After returning from America in 1777, he was promoted in rank to

general officer A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

. In 1787, he received advancement to

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

. He is remembered in

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

history for a clever but harsh comment that he made concerning the dead body of an American officer.

Early career

Born on 10 May 1742,Rayment, ''Penryn (Cornwall)'' Osborn was the oldest son of Sir Danvers Osborn, 3rd Baronet and educated at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He succeeded to the baronetcy and the family seat at Chicksands Priory when his father died in 1753, while governor of the

Province of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...

. Osborn was a cousin of

Frederick North, Lord North Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom, courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He ...

who was

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

from 1770 to 1782. He was the grandson of

George Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax George Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax (also spelt George Montague) (9 May 1739), of Horton, Northamptonshire, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1705 to 1715 when he became a peer. Early life Montagu was the son of ...

and the nephew of

George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax (6 October 1716 – 8 June 1771) was a British statesman of the Georgian era. Due to his success in extending commerce in the Americas, he became known as the "father of the colonies". President of the B ...

. He was also a nephew of general and playwright

John Burgoyne General (United Kingdom), General John "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne (24 February 1722 – 4 August 1792) was a British Army officer, playwright and politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1761 to 1792. He first saw acti ...

. He served as

Groom of the Bedchamber Groom of the Chamber was a position in the Royal Household, Household of the monarch in early modern Kingdom of England, England. Other ''Ancien Régime'' royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In King ...

to King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

from 1770 to 1812.Correspondence, 398 In 1759, at the age of 17, he was commissioned as

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

and second-in-command of the

Bedfordshire Militia The Bedfordshire Militia, later the Bedfordshire Light Infantry was an auxiliary military regiment in the English county of Bedfordshire. From their formal organisation as Trained bands, Trained Bands, in 1572 and their service during the Spanish ...

, before he transferred to the regular army. He was elected on 24 April 1769, to the

for the Bossiney constituency in Cornwall. On 12 October 1774 he was elected for the Penryn constituency in Cornwall. Like his relative Lord North, Osborn held

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

political beliefs.McGuire (2006), 35

American Revolutionary War

During the

he was captain of the

grenadier A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word ''grenade'') was historically an assault-specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in siege operation battles. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when ...

company of the Guards Brigade with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the army. In addition to his other duties, he filled the post of Mustermaster-General and Inspector of the Foreign Troops. The latter responsibility required him to keep track of the strength and condition of the Hessian and other German mercenaries. The information was sent to Lord George Germain, the Secretary of State for America. For the American war, the British military establishment assembled the 1,000-man Guards Brigade by choosing the men by lottery from the 1st Foot Guards,

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Minute and second of arc, ...

, and

3rd Foot Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642 in the Kingdom of Scotland, although ...

. Brigadier General Edward Mathew commanded the unit which was split into two battalions of 500 troops each. Unlike the other regiments of foot, the light and grenadier companies of the Guards fought with their parent unit rather than being converged into elite battalions.

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Charles O'Hara General Charles O'Hara (1740 – 25 February 1802) was a British Army officer who served in the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary War and later served as governor of Gibraltar. He served with d ...

, who later held important commands in the British army, belonged to the Guards Brigade. Among his friends, Osborn counted Lieutenant Colonel William Harcourt of the 16th Light Dragoons, Captain-lieutenant

Richard FitzPatrick General Richard FitzPatrick (24 January 174825 April 1813), styled The Honourable from birth, was an Anglo-Irish soldier, wit, poet, and Whig politician. He sat in the British House of Commons for 39 years from 1774 to 1813 and was a "sworn br ...

of the 1st Foot Guards, Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Wrottesley of the 2nd Foot Guards, and Colonel Henry Monckton of the 2nd Grenadier Battalion. Hessian jager

Near Raritan Landing, New Jersey on 31 May 1777, Lieutenant William Martin of

Spencer's Additional Continental Regiment Spencer's Additional Continental Regiment, sometimes referred to as the 5th New Jersey Regiment, was an American infantry unit that served for four years in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress au ...

and a 20-man patrol were ambushed by 60 Hessian mounted and foot Jägers under Captains Richard Lorey and Carl Wreden. In the first fire, three mounted Jägers were wounded, two seriously. This infuriated the others and they set upon the Americans, killing Martin and six of his men while capturing seven more. When the Americans recovered Martin's body, it was found to be hideously mangled with seventeen sword wounds, "most of them mortal". The corpse was displayed to the American soldiers as proof of their enemies' brutality. Already irritated by incidents such as the bayoneting to death of Brigadier General

Hugh Mercer Hugh Mercer (January 16, 1726 – January 12, 1777) was a Scottish brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He fought in the New York and New Jersey campaign and was mortally wounded at the Battle of Pri ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

, Major General

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

sent Martin's remains into the British lines under a flag of truce with a letter of protest. When the wagon bearing the corpse arrived at Osborn's picket post, he accepted the letter but refused the dead body. His witty but heartless reply that he, "was no coroner", was received among British officers with great amusement and even made the rounds in London. At the

Battle of Brandywine The Battle of Brandywine, also known as the Battle of Brandywine Creek, was fought between the American Continental Army of General George Washington and the British Army of General Sir William Howe on September 11, 1777, as part of the Am ...

on 11 September 1777, Mathew's brigade was part of Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis' division which had reached a position on the American right rear before being detected. At 4:00 PM, the Guards Brigade took position on the right flank of the first line. Osborn commanded both the grenadier company on the right and the light company which deployed as skirmishers in front. They were opposed by the Maryland Division which was commanded by Major General John Sullivan. Since Sullivan was responsible for supervising the American right wing, he left the division under the leadership of Brigadier General Philippe Hubert Preudhomme de Borre. The Frenchman mishandled the Marylanders, throwing the division into confusion. With the Americans in disarray, the attack of the Guards easily swept them aside. At the end of the day, the entire brigade reported only one killed, five wounded, and two missing. Of these, one casualty was from Osborn's grenadiers and three from the light company. A few days after the battle Osborn and FitzPatrick caught two Guard grenadiers out plundering. The unfortunate soldiers were both sentenced to 500 lashes as punishment. The night before the

Battle of Germantown The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, between the British Army led by Sir William Howe, and the American ...

on 4 October 1777, Howe warned Osborn to expect trouble and the detached Guard grenadier and light companies took post on the far right flank next to the

Queen's Rangers The Queen's Rangers, also known as the Queen's American Rangers, and later Simcoe's Rangers, were a Loyalists fighting in the American Revolution, Loyalist military unit of the American Revolutionary War that specialized in cavalry tactics, clo ...

, a loyalist American unit. In the morning they were attacked by Brigadier General

William Smallwood William Smallwood (1732February 14, 1792) was an American planter, soldier and politician from Charles County, Maryland. He served in the American Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of major general. He was serving as the fourth Governo ...

's Maryland

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

and Brigadier General David Forman's New Jersey militia. The militia captured a few

outwork An outwork is a minor fortification built or established outside the principal fortification limits, detached or semidetached. Outworks such as ravelins, lunettes (demilunes), flèches and caponier A caponier is a type of defensive structur ...

s but their organization soon unraveled in the face of opposition by professional soldiers. After driving back the American amateurs, the British swung to their left to flank Brigadier General

Alexander McDougall Alexander McDougall (1732 9 June 1786) was a Scottish-born American seaman, merchant, a Sons of Liberty leader from New York City before and during the American Revolution, and a military leader during the Revolutionary War. He served as a maj ...

's Connecticut Brigade. On 10 November, during the final part of the

Siege of Fort Mifflin The siege of Fort Mifflin or the siege of Mud Island Fort, which took place from September 26 to November 16, 1777, saw British land batteries commanded by Captain John Montresor and a British naval squadron under Vice Admiral Lord Richard Howe ...

, Howe directed Osborn to lead an amphibious assault on the fort on Mud Island. Accordingly, he assembled his grenadier company plus an additional four officers, eight NCOs, two drummers, and 150 enlisted men from the Guards Brigade and marched to Province Island on the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

. They were joined there by a detachment of light infantry, the 27th Foot and the 29th Foot. Osborn planned to load eight flatboats with 35 soldiers each for the initial assault. In the event, the American garrison evacuated the fort on the night of 15 November and Osborn's detachment occupied the place without opposition. On 16 December 1777, Osborn and Lord Cornwallis left Philadelphia aboard the armed ship ''Brilliant''. During his tenure as Inspector of the Foreign Troops, he cultivated excellent relations with the Hessian officer corps. Upon his arrival in England, King George promoted Osborn to brigadier general. Having obtained leave from his regiment, he then traveled in Europe.

Later career

On 30 November 1780, Osborn was elected to Parliament in a by-election, this time to the Horsham constituency in Sussex.Rayment, ''Horsham (Sussex)'' Osborn was promoted to

in 1787. On 1 September 1795,

Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (Frederick Augustus; 16 August 1763 – 5 January 1827) was the second son of George III, King of the United Kingdom and King of Hanover, Hanover, and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A so ...

wrote a report to

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

after inspecting military units in the Northern District. The report stated that Osborn commanded the

3rd Dragoon Guards The 3rd (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards was a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685 as the Earl of Plymouth's Regiment of Horse. It was renamed as the 3rd Regiment of Dragoon Guards ...

, the 8th Foot, and the Durham militia at Whitburn. The 8th Foot was praised as the best line regiment in the district though its officers were not in regulation uniforms. Only 100 troopers of the 3rd Dragoon Guards were present since two squadrons had been sent to the continent. The Durham militia were well-drilled but their uniforms and equipment were in bad condition. He was made Colonel of the

40th Regiment of Foot The 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1717 in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunte ...

from 1786 to his death. He died on 29 June 1818. He had married twice; firstly in April 1771 to Elizabeth, the daughter and coheiress of John Bannister, with whom he had a son and secondly in August 1788 to Lady Heneage Finch, the daughter of Daniel, 8th Earl of Winchilsea. He was succeeded by his son

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

Notes

;Footnotes ;Citations

References

* * Lt-Col Sir John M. Burgoyne, Bart, ''Regimental Records of the Bedfordshire Militia 1759–1884'', London: W.H. Allen, 1884. * * * * (Retrieved 20 November 2011) * (Retrieved 18 November 2011) * (Retrieved 18 November 2011)

External sources