After this series of events, and having been appointed a Knight of the Bath in February, 1812, Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Graham joined the army under the Duke of Wellington; but from ill health he was obliged to revisit England for a short period. Early in 1813, however, he returned to the Peninsula, and commanded the left wing of the British army at Vittoria. Mr. Abbott, then Speaker of the House of Commons, (afterwards Lord Colchester,) in alluding to General Graham's distinguished career at this period, stated that his was "a name never to be mentioned in our military annals without the strongest expression of respect and admiration;" and Mr. Sheridan, speaking of the various excellences, personal and professional, which adorned his character, said:—
"I have known him in private life; and never was there seated a loftier spirit in a braver heart."
Alluding to his services in the retreat of the British army to Corunna, he continued:—
"In the hour of peril, Graham was their best adviser; in the hour of disaster, Graham was their surest consolation."
He was second in command at the siege and capture of Ciudad Rodrigo; and commanded the army employed in the siege of St. Sebastian, and also the left wing at the passage of the Bidassoa; but soon after, in consequence of ill health, he was obliged to resign his command to Sir John Hope. In 1814 he was appointed to the command of the forces employed in Holland, and on the 3rd of May in the same year he again received the thanks of Parliament, and was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Lynedoch, of Balgowan, in the county of Perth.
As years advanced, and the infirmities of age began to accumulate, Lord Lynedoch found the climate of Italy better calculated to sustain his declining energies than the atmosphere and temperature of his own country; he, therefore, spent much time on the continent; but, on a recent occasion, so anxious was he to manifest his sense of loyalty and his personal attachment to the Queen, that when Her Majesty visited Scotland, he came home from Switzerland for the express purpose of paying his duty to Her Majesty in the metropolis of his native land.
Lord Lynedoch's first commission in the army, that of Lieut.-Colonel, was dated 10th February, 1794; and he was promoted Colonel, by brevet, on the 22nd July, 1795. His commissions in the grade of General Officer were,—Major-General, 25th September, 1803; Lieut.-General, 25th July, 1810; and General, 19th July, 1821. He was successively Colonel of the 90th Regiment, at the head of which he continued nearly twenty years; of the 58th; and of the 14th Regiment, from which he was removed to the Royal Regiment on 12th December, 1834, when the Duke of Gordon was appointed to the Colonelcy of the Scots Fusilier Guards. He was also Governor of Dumbarton Castle in North Britain. He wore a Cross for his services at Barrosa (as Commander of the Forces), at Ciudad Rodrigo, Vittoria, and St. Sebastian (where he commanded a division), and he was a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, and of the foreign Order of St. Michael and St. George.
To advert at greater length to Lord Lynedoch's services as a soldier would be superfluous. Conspicuous, in action for his talents, in council for his sagacity, and in private life for unassuming worth and the most estimable qualities, his character displayed a rare union of skill, chivalry, and amiability, and his widely-spread fame, his long and intimate connexion with the army, which have been the admiration of the present generation, will continue to hold a prominent place in British history. Though his titles have become extinct, he has left behind him a name which will be held in honoured remembrance while loyalty is considered a virtue, and military renown a passport to fame.
Sir George Murray, G.C.B.,
Appointed 29th December, 1843.
Sir George Murray was a native of Scotland, and entered the army at the age of 17, as an Ensign in the 71st Regiment, on the 12th of March, 1789. He was shortly afterwards removed to the 34th Regiment, and to the 3rd Foot Guards in July, 1790, from which time, to the close of the war in 1815, he was almost constantly employed in the active military service of his country, in the Netherlands, in the West Indies, in Egypt, in the north of Europe, and in the peninsula of Spain and Portugal.