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General Hon Sir Charles Colville GCB GCH served in the 13th Regiment of Foot for 19 years during which time he was with them in the West Indies, the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and Egypt in 1801. He commanded the regiment at Gibraltar until they returned in 1805 and was highly praised by the Governor there for his handling of the outbreak of a fatal sickness. At Martinique he commanded the 2nd Brigade of Prevost's Division. In the Peninsula he was highly regarded by Wellington, but was badly wounded at the storming of the Trinidad bastion at Badajoz. He was present at Fuentes de Onoro, Ciudad Rodrigo, Vittoria, Nivelle, Nive and Bayonne. He superintended the final embarkation of the last English troops from France in 1814. His division at Waterloo was not heavily engaged but it was Charles Colville who called for the surrender of the Old Imperial Guard and received the famous reply from General Pierre Cambronne "Merde!" The last action in the war with Napoleonic France was Cambrai. Wellington compensated Colville for his lack of opportunity for glory at Waterloo by giving him the task of capturing this stubborn outpost that had stayed loyal to their Emperor. He achieved his objective with remarkably few casualties.
As governor of Mauritius, from 17 June 1828 to 3 Feb 1833, he was there at the time of a slave revolt against the crown. The slave owners were extremely hostile to to any reforms of the slave's working conditions. In 1830 he reported bad feeling against Britain and a general refusal to pay taxes.
1770 Born 7 Aug |
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