[9] The following is an extract from the Parish Register of St John's Church, Portsmouth, N.H.
| "1798. | Record of Deaths. |
| Decbr. 6th | His Excellency, Stephen De Lancy, Governour of Tobago, who died, the night after his arrival in the harbour of this town, of a decline which had been upon him for six months, aged 50 years." |
Mr De Lancey was buried in the Wentworth tomb, in St John's Churchyard, where many of the Wentworth Governors of New Hampshire and their families are buried.—Ed.
Sir William De Lancey, soldier, only son of the preceding, was born in New York about 1781,[10] and died in June 1815, in consequence of wounds received at the battle of Waterloo. He was educated in England, and early entered the British army. He served with great distinction under Wellington in Spain, and was several times honourably mentioned in his despatches.[11]
[10] This date agrees with the tradition handed down in the family with Lady De Lancey's narrative, to the effect that he was only thirty-four at the time of his death at Waterloo.—Ed.
[11] Vide Gurwood's Despatches of the Duke of Wellington, 2nd edition, vol. iii., pp. 227 and 229; vol. v., p. 476; vol. vi., p. 542. Sir Harry Smith, a soldier of soldiers—"inter milites miles"—speaks of him in his Autobiography as "that gallant fellow De Lancey." (Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith, vol. i., p. 266.)
The Gold Cross of Sir William De Lancey.
Received after serving in the Peninsular War.
In the possession of Major J.A. Hay.
At the close of the war he was made a Knight of the Bath. When Napoleon landed from Elba, Wellington, in forming his staff, insisted on having De Lancey appointed as his Quartermaster-General. The officer really entitled to the promotion was Sir William's brother-in-law, Sir Hudson Lowe;[12] but as Wellington had conceived a dislike for him, he refused to accept that officer in that capacity. The military authorities, however, insisted on his appointment, and it was only when Wellington made the promotion of De Lancey a sine quâ non of his acceptance of the supreme command that the former yielded.[13] Six weeks before the battle of Waterloo, Sir William married the daughter of Sir James Hall[14] of Dunglass, the Scottish scientist. His bride accompanied him on the Continent. On the second day of the battle[15] Sir William was knocked from his horse by a spent cannon-ball, and it was at first supposed that he had been instantly killed. Thirty-six hours afterwards he was discovered, still alive and in his senses, but incapable of motion, although without any visible wound. Notwithstanding the skill of the surgeons, and the tender care of his wife, he succumbed to his injuries nine days after the battle.[16]