William Fawcett (officer)

William Fawcett, after a portrait by Johann Georg Ziesenis

William Fawcett, portrayed by Joshua Reynolds (1784/85)

Sir William Fawcett (* 1728 in Halifax , † March 22, 1804 in Westminster , London ; also written Faucitt ) was a British officer .

Military career

Fawcett, who came from a family of smaller landowners in Yorkshire , joined the British Army as an ensign in 1745 . In 1757 he was promoted to captain and since the beginning of the Seven Years' War in Germany served as a wing adjutant to General Granville Elliott . After his death in 1759 Fawcett received the same position with Granville's successor, John Manners, Marquess of Granby , and was raised to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the following year . This was followed by promotions to colonel (1772), major general (1777), lieutenant general (1782) and general (1796).

Fawcett died in 1804 at his home on Great George Street, Westminster, at the age of 76, and was buried in the chapel of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea .

Special services

Although William Fawcett served both in the Seven Years 'War and in the American Revolutionary War, he rendered his most important achievements as an author or translator of military literature, but above all as an agent for the soldiers' trade .

Fawcett, who had excellent knowledge of German and French , translated, among other things, the training regulations and tactical manuals of the Prussian army from German as well as the military writings of Hermann Moritz von Sachsen from French into English . In addition, he wrote military literature himself.

Because of his language skills and his diplomatic talent, Fawcett was sent to Germany in the fall of 1775 to negotiate with various princes about the rental of troop contingents for use in America. It was his responsibility not only to negotiate and conclude the relevant contracts, but also to inspect the rented units and check them for their quality and suitability. Fawcett remained in Germany as an agent for the soldiers' trade until 1780; Above all, it is thanks to his negotiating skills that Great Britain had around 20,000 hired German auxiliary troops at its disposal in America.

Honors

On December 20, 1786, Fawcett was inducted into the Order of the Bath . In 1793 he was given the honorary rank of Colonel of the 3rd Dragoon Guards , and in 1796 he was made governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in recognition of his services . On January 23, 1799 he became a member of the Privy Council .

Another, albeit posthumous, honor was his state funeral on March 31, 1804, at which the Prince Regent , the Duke of Clarence and Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn , followed the hearse through the streets of Westminster to Chelsea Hospital and six generals pallbearers were.

Works (selection)

• Regulations for the Prussian Infantry. To Which Is Added, the Prussian Tactick, Being a Detail of the Grand Maneuver, as Performed by the Prussian Armies (1759)
• Regulations for the Prussian Cavalry (1757)
• Reveries: or Memoirs upon the Art of War, by Field-Marshal Count Saxe (1757)
• Rules and Regulations for the Formations, Field Exercise and Movements of His Majesty's Forces (1792)

literature

• William D. Reider: The new tablet of memory . John Clements Publisher, London 1841
• Francis Townsend: Calendar of Knights . W. Pickering Verlag, 1828
• Henry Schroder: The Annals of Yorkshire from the Earliest Period to the Present Time . Crosby Publisher, 1848
• Dietmar Kügler: The German troops in the American War of Independence 1775-1783 . Motorbuch-Verlag, ISBN 3-87943-738-6
• Edward J. Lowell: The Hessians and the other Auxiliaries of Great Britain in the Revolutionary War . Published by Harper and Brothers, New York 1884
• Rowland E. Prothero (ed.): The Works Of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Vol. 1 . 1898

Web links

Commons : William Fawcett  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Calderdale Council
• University of Missouri Libraries
• Boston Tea and Mad King George
• The Works Of Lord Byron at Project Gutenberg