General 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 ...

Ulysses de Burgh, 2nd Baron Downes (15 August 1788 – 26 July 1864), was an Irish soldier and

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 ...

politician. A General in the

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 ...

, he served as

Surveyor-General of the Ordnance The Surveyor-General of the Ordnance was a subordinate of the Master-General of the Ordnance and a member of the Board of Ordnance, a British government body, from its constitution in 1597. Appointments to the post were made by the crown under ...

under

Lord Liverpool Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. Before becoming Prime Minister he had been Foreign Secretary, ...

(1820–27) and, after succeeding a cousin as second Baron Downes (1826), he was an

Irish representative peer This is a list of representative peers elected from the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords after the Kingdom of Ireland was brought into union with the Kingdom of Great Britain. No new members were added to the House after ...

in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

(1833–64).

Background

Born Ulysses Burgh, he was the son of Thomas Burgh and Anne, daughter of David Aigion. His great-grandfather was Ulysses Burgh,

Bishop of Ardagh The Bishop of Ardagh was a separate Episcopal polity, episcopal title which took its name after the village of Ardagh, County Longford in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It was used by the Roman Catholic Church until 1756, and intermittently by t ...

. In 1848 he assumed by Royal licence the surname of de Burgh in lieu of simply Burgh. His grandfather Thomas Burgh was one of the foremost Irish architects of his time, who designed many notable buildings, including

Trinity College Library The Library of Trinity College Dublin () serves Trinity College, and is the largest library in Ireland. It is a legal deposit or "copyright library", which means that publishers in Ireland must deposit a copy of all their publications there ...

and

Dr Steevens' Hospital Dr Steevens' Hospital (also called Dr Steevens's Hospital) (), one of Ireland's most distinguished eighteenth-century medical establishments, was located at Kilmainham in Dublin Ireland. It was founded under the terms of the will of Richard Stee ...

. His father was comptroller-general and commissioner of the revenue of Ireland, and second cousin of William Downes, who was

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...

from 1803 to 1822; and his two sisters had married respectively the

Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer The Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland and a member of the Dublin Castle administration under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Kingdom of Ireland. In early times the office was sometimes called the ...

and the

Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron (judge) who presided over the Irish Court of Exchequer. This was a mirror of the equivalent court in England, and was one of the four courts which sat in the building in Dublin which is still ...

. Ulysses Burgh was born in Dublin on 15 August 1788. He entered the

, and was promoted by family influence. He was gazetted ensign in the

54th Regiment of Foot The 54th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Dorsetshire Regiment in 1881. History Early history Th ...

on 31 March 1804, and was promoted

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 12 November 1804, and

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

on 4 September 1806. He was employed in ordinary garrison duty with his regiment at

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

and in the West Indies till 1808, when he exchanged into the 92nd and accompanied Sir John Cradock to Portugal as aide-de-camp.

Peninsular War

When

Sir Arthur Wellesley Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (; 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was a British Army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during t ...

succeeded Cradock, he in his turn took Burgh, whose father was a close friend, as an aide-de-camp. Burgh was present at the

battle of Talavera The Battle of Talavera (27–28 July 1809) was fought just outside the town of Talavera de la Reina, Spain some southwest of Madrid, during the Peninsular War. At Talavera, a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley combined with a Spanish ...

, where he was slightly wounded. He brought home the despatch announcing the victory at the

battle of Busaco The Battle of Buçaco () or Bussaco was fought on 27 September 1810 during the Peninsular War in the Portuguese mountain range of Serra do Buçaco, resulting in the defeat of French forces by Lord Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army. Having ...

on 29 September 1810, was promoted major for the news, and was back again in Portugal by January 1811. He was then present at the battle of Fuentes d'Onor, at the combat of El Bodon, at the storming of

Ciudad Rodrigo Ciudad Rodrigo () is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca (province), 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 r ...

and

Badajoz Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portugal, Portuguese Portugal–Spain border, border, on the left bank of the river ...

, and the

battle of Salamanca The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of the Arapiles) took place on 22July 1812. An Anglo-Portuguese Army, Anglo-Portuguese army under the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Earl of Wellington (future ...

, and again took home the news of Wellington's entry into

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 25 September 1812. He returned to Spain, and was present at the

battle of Vittoria At the Battle of Vitoria (21 June 1813), a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British, Kingdom of Portugal, Portuguese and Spanish Empire, Spanish army under the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Marquess of Wellington bro ...

and the

battle of the Pyrenees The Battle of the Pyrenees was a large-scale offensive (the author David Chandler recognises the 'battle' as an offensive) launched on 25 July 1813 by Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult from the Pyrénées region on Emperor Napoleon's order, ...

. He was present at the storming of San Sebastián, at the

battle of the Nivelle The Battle of Nivelle (10 November 1813) took place in front of the river Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War (1808–1814). After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops (20, ...

, where his horse was killed under him; at the

battle of the Nive The Battles of the Nive (9–13 December 1813) were fought towards the end of the Peninsular War. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army, Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish Army ...

, and the battle of Toulouse, where he was again wounded. At the end of the war in 1814 Burgh was made KCB and KTS, and received a company in the

Grenadier guards The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...

Political career

Burgh was returned to parliament for

County Carlow County Carlow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county located in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region of Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Carlow is the List of Irish counties by area, second smallest and t ...

in 1818, a seat he held until 1826, and then represented

Queenborough Queenborough is a town on the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale borough of Kent in South East England. Queenborough is south of Sheerness. It grew as a port near the Thames Estuary at the westward entrance to the Swale where it joins the River ...

between 1826 and 1830. He held office under

between 1820 and 1827. In 1826 he succeeded his second cousin

William Downes, 1st Baron Downes William Downes, 1st Baron Downes PC (1751 – 3 March 1826) was one of the leading Irish judges of his time, who held office as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Family Downes was the second son of Robert Downes (1708-1754) of Donnybrook Castle, ...

, who had no children, as second Baron Downes according to a special remainder in the

letters patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

. As this was an

Irish peerage The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

it did not entitle him to an automatic seat in the

and he was able to remain a member of 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 ...

. However, in 1833 he was elected an

and entered the House of Lords. In 1860 he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

. On the retirement of the Duke of Wellington from political life, Lord Downes also retired and occupied himself with the life of a country gentleman. He became in due course major-general on 10 January 1837, lieutenant-general on 9 November 1846, colonel of the 54th foot 1845–50, colonel of the 29th regiment on 15 August 1850, full general on 20 June 1854, and was made G.C.B. in 1869. Downes died at Bert House, Athy,

County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...

, on 26 July 1863.

Family

Lord Downes was twice married. He married firstly Maria, daughter of Walter Bagenal, in 1815. They had two daughters: *Charlotte who married James Colborne, 2nd

Baron Seaton Baron Seaton, of Seaton in the County of Devon, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 14 December 1839 for the soldier and colonial administrator Sir John Colborne. He fought at the Battle of Waterloo and was Li ...

*Anne who married John Scott, 3rd

Earl of Clonmell Earl of Clonmell, in the County of Tipperary, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1793 for John Scott, 1st Viscount Clonmell, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland. He had already been created Baron Earlsfort, of ...

. After her death in August 1842, he married secondly Christopheria, daughter of James Buchanan and widow of John Willis Fleming of North Stoneham Park, in 1846. There were no children from this marriage. She died in October 1860. Lord Downes died in July 1864, aged 75. The barony became extinct on his death as he had no sons.

Honours

Orders, Decorations, and Medals

Ancestry

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Downes, Ulysses Burgh, 2nd Baron 1788 births 1864 deaths Barons in the Peerage of Ireland Irish representative peers Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Burgh, Ulysses Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Tory MPs (pre-1834) Burgh, Ulysses Burgh, Ulysses UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs who inherited peerages British Army generals British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars 29th Regiment of Foot officers Military personnel from Dublin (city) Grenadier Guards officers