THE ROYAL COUNTY DOWN REGIMENT OF
FOOT.
Cornelius Cuyler.
Appointed 30th October, 1793.
Cornelius Cuyler was appointed ensign in the fifty-fifth foot, on the 31st of May, 1759, and, immediately proceeding to North America, joined his regiment before the fort of Ticonderoga, on the west shore of Lake Champlain, in July of the same year, in time to take part in the reduction of that post. In 1760 he served at the reduction of Isle-aux-Noix and at the capture of Montreal, which completed the conquest of Canada. In 1764 he was appointed captain in the forty-sixth foot, with which corps he served two years on the frontiers of North America, one year at New York, and eight in Ireland. On the breaking out of the American war in 1775, he was appointed first aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-General Sir William Howe, who proceeded to Boston with reinforcements. In 1776, he was promoted to major in the fifty-fifth, but continued to perform the duty of first aide-de-camp to Sir William Howe, then commanding-in-chief in North America, and served at the reduction of Long Island, the capture of New York, and the battle of White Plains. He also accompanied the expedition to Pennsylvania in 1777, and served at the battles of Brandywine, and Germantown, and in November of that year he succeeded Colonel Meadows, who was removed to the fifth foot, in the lieutenant-colonelcy of the fifty-fifth, which corps he commanded in the retreat from Philadelphia to New York in 1778, and was at the battle of Freehold, under Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Clinton. In November of that year he proceeded with his regiment to the West Indies, and was engaged in the capture of St. Lucie. He performed the duties of adjutant-general to the troops in the West Indies, under Major-General Christie, in 1781; he afterwards performed the duties of quarter-master-general in the West Indies until 1784 when he returned to England, and took the command of his regiment, then in Ireland. In 1787 he was appointed to the situation of quarter-master-general in the West Indies, which he held until 1792, when he succeeded to the command of the forces in the Windward and Leeward Islands. He commanded an expedition against Tobago, and, having captured the principal fort by storm, on the morning of the 15th of April, 1793, the island submitted. Returning to England soon afterwards, he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and appointed colonel of the Eighty-sixth Regiment, then first raised, and styled “Cuyler’s Shropshire Volunteers.” He was also placed on the staff of Great Britain, and in April, 1794, he obtained the appointment of lieutenant-governor of Portsmouth: in June of that year he was removed from the Eighty-sixth to the sixty-ninth regiment. In June, 1796, he was appointed commander-in-chief in the West Indies, with the local rank of lieutenant-general; in January, 1798, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general in the army, and returned to England in May following. In June he was appointed to the command of the Sussex district; and in January, 1799, he was nominated commander-in-chief in Portugal,—the government of that country having refused to ratify a treaty of peace with France, and agreed to receive British troops into the ports: he returned to England in November, the greater part of the troops being sent to the Mediterranean. The rank of general was conferred on this distinguished officer in 1803; he was also appointed governor of Kinsale, and, in July, 1814, he was further rewarded with the dignity of Baronet.
General Sir Cornelius Cuyler, Baronet, died at St. John’s Lodge, Herts, on the 8th of March, 1819, after an honourable service of sixty years.
Russell Manners.
Appointed 20th June, 1794.