Charles Stuart (General, 1753)

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Sir Charles Stuart KB (January 1753 in Kenwood House , London , † March 25, 1801 in Thatched House Lodge , Richmond Park , Surrey ), was a British general and politician.

Origin and youth

Stuart came from an old branch of the House of Stuart . He was the fourth son of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute and his wife Mary Wortley-Montagu, 1st Baroness Mount Stuart , the only daughter of Edward Wortley-Montagu and Mary Wortley Montagu . His siblings included John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute , William Stuart , Archbishop of Armagh, and the writer Louisa Stuart . Charles received private tuition and attended Dr Graffiani's Academy in Kensington . He was considered his father's favorite son, who personally supervised his upbringing and with whom he was in regular correspondence until his death.

Military career and service in the American Revolutionary War

His father took him on a mainland voyage in 1768, then he joined the 37th Regiment of Foot as an ensign . He was promoted to lieutenant in 1770 and captain in 1773. He was transferred to North America as a major in 1775 and arrived in Boston the day after the Battle of Bunker Hill . After the evacuation of Boston , he was transferred to Halifax and then took part in the landings in Staten Island and Long Island and the subsequent conquest of New York. He realized that the looting by the British and Hessian soldiers cost the British a lot of sympathy among the population, as well as the inability of the local governors, which is why he criticized the Commander-in-Chief General Howe in letters to his father . Although he asked for relocation and transfer to Great Britain, he was used in the campaigns to New Jersey and Pennsylvania , where he was almost killed during the Battle of Brandywine . In 1777 he returned to Great Britain as a lieutenant colonel and on April 19 married Anne Louisa , daughter of Lord Vere Bertie and granddaughter of Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven . In May 1778 he was posted again to North America, where he complained about the lack of supplies and bad organization at the headquarters in New York. In November 1778 he returned to Great Britain sick, taking with him confidential letters from General Clinton , who had replaced Howe as Commander-in-Chief. He gave this in Great Britain during a meeting with Colonial Minister Germain , who, however, assessed the situation in Ireland as more threatening than that in North America and did not take Clinton's warnings seriously. In July 1779 he returned to America, where he became a confidante of the desperate Clinton. Stuart urged him to carry out reforms within the army but refused the post of adjutant. He left America again in November, convinced that there was no longer any honor to be won in America during the war .

Worked as a member of parliament and traveled through Europe

While still fighting as an officer in North America, he was elected a Member of the House of Commons in Bossiney , Cornwall , in 1776 . In the House of Commons, however, he was neither part of the government camp nor the opposition and was considered undecided. He attended the House of Commons only irregularly, and since his father had fallen out of favor with the King and he received no new military command, he retired to his country estate in Scotland. From February 1783 to spring 1784 he made a trip to Italy, where he visited Venice, among other places. After he had been promoted to colonel in 1782, he received only half pay from 1784 and was downgraded to lieutenant colonel. In the next few years he made further trips, including to Italy, Geneva, the Netherlands and again to Italy, where he briefly returned to Great Britain several times and occasionally took part in the House of Commons meetings. He hoped that he would be accepted into the diplomatic service, but that hope was not fulfilled. After he had remained an MP for Bossiney until 1790, he was elected to the House of Commons for the Scottish constituency of Ayr Burghs through relationships with his father in 1790 , but he remained politically mostly inactive.

General during the coalition wars

Only after the death of his father in 1792 and the beginning of the coalition wars he was promoted to major general and was given command of troops in the Mediterranean region in 1794, for which he resigned his mandate. In July 1794, with the support of Nelson Calvi , he captured the last French base in Corsica . His drive and bravery aroused the admiration of his deputy John Moore , but he soon got into a quarrel with Admiral Hood , the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet. He also had differences with the Viceroy of Corsica, Gilbert Elliot , because he, as a civilian, refused to give him any orders. Instead, he faced Elliot with the Corsican leader Pasquale Paoli and finally resigned his command in February 1795.

In 1796 he was elected to the House of Commons as MP for Poole by a 1794 deal . In November 1796, as lieutenant general, he was given command of a force with which he was supposed to defend Portugal against a feared French or Spanish invasion. In addition, the training of the Portuguese armed forces could be significantly improved under his leadership. After his mission in Portugal was over at the end of 1797, he was commissioned the next year to conquer Gibraltar from Menorca with a 3000-man force . Despite numerical inferiority, he was able to occupy the island on November 7, 1798 without losses. For this success he was ennobled as Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath and was appointed governor of the island. In his short tenure, he radically reformed the island's administration. In 1799 he organized the defense of Sicily against a feared French attack. During a visit to Malta , he foresaw a long siege of the French-occupied Valletta . After his proposed attack plans in the Mediterranean were not implemented, he finally resigned his command in April 1800 in protest against the planned surrender of Malta to Russia. He returned to Great Britain sick and died on March 25, 1801 at his home in Surrey and was buried in Petersham . In Westminster Abbey a plaque created by Joseph Nollekens commemorates him.

The British Admiral St. Vincent rated him in 1798 as the best British general of his time. Stuart was generally considered to be a brave and capable officer who had talent as both a commander and an organizer. He was popular with his soldiers, and the units he led were recognized as having excellent discipline. However, he was also considered stubborn and difficult, and because of his pride and violent temper, he got into quarrels with other military personnel several times. His lack of diplomatic skills with politicians and civilians prevented a greater career as a diplomat or military.

Family and offspring

From his marriage to Anne Louisa Bertie he had two sons:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of Parliament Online: STUART, Hon. Charles (1753-1801), of Branser, Bute. Retrieved September 11, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Westminster Abbey: Sir Charles Stuart. Retrieved September 11, 2014 .
  3. ↑ A prime minister and his son, from the correspondence of the 3rd Earl of Bute and of Lt.-General the Hon. Sir Charles Stuart, KB Murray, London 1925, p. 284
  4. ↑ Michael Barthorp: Napoleon's Egyptian Campaigns 1798-1801 . Osprey, London 1992. ISBN 978-0-85045-126-9 , p. 20
personal data
SURNAME Stuart, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British general and politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 1753
PLACE OF BIRTH Kenwood House , London
DATE OF DEATH March 25, 1801
Place of death Thatched House Lodge , Richmond Park , Surrey