Appointed 28th September, 1689.
This officer served with distinction under the Prince of Orange in the Netherlands; he was rewarded with the lieut.-colonelcy of Sir Henry Bellasis' regiment (now Sixth foot), and in September, 1689, he was promoted to the colonelcy. He commanded the regiment in Ireland; but retired in 1691, and his decease appears to have occurred before he attained any higher rank than that of colonel.
GEORGE PRINCE OF HESSE D'ARMSTADT,
Appointed 15th April, 1691.
George Prince of Hesse D'Armstadt descended from an ancient and illustrious family in Germany, and was brother of the reigning landgrave of that name. Having entered the service of the emperor of Germany, he gave early proofs of innate valour in 1685, in the war with the Turks; he also signalized himself in the three succeeding campaigns,—particularly at the famous siege of Negropont; and in 1689 he served against the French with the army on the Rhine, and was wounded at the siege of Bonn, and also at the siege of Mentz. In the following year he visited England, and attending King William during the campaign in Ireland, he was wounded on the evening preceding the battle of the Boyne, by the cannon-ball which grazed his Majesty's shoulder. In April, 1691, the King rewarded him with the colonelcy of the Sixth foot, and the appointment of brigadier-general on the staff of the army in Ireland, where he highly distinguished himself at the head of the grenadiers at the storming of Athlone; and led his regiment to the charge with surprising intrepidity at the battle of Aghrim, and was wounded. He also added to his rising reputation by his conduct during the siege of Limerick. King William was anxious to reward such distinguished merit, but the Prince, being a Roman Catholic, was not eligible for promotion in the British army: his Majesty, therefore, procured him an appointment in the Spanish service; and having signalized his valour, zeal for the confederate cause, and ability to command, during the siege of Barcelona, in 1697, the King of Spain constituted him viceroy of Catalonia.
The Prince quitted Spain on the accession of the Duke of Anjou, in 1701, to the throne of that kingdom, and proceeding to England, was consulted by King William respecting the best mode of recovering that monarchy from the power of the house of Bourbon. He accompanied the expedition commanded by the Duke of Ormond, to Cadiz, in 1702, in the capacity of plenipotentiary from the emperor of Germany; and he was subsequently employed on a mission to the court of Portugal. He had the honour of taking a distinguished part in the capture of Gibraltar in 1704; and the valour, skill, indefatigable industry, and unshaken resolution, with which he afterwards defended that fortress, were commended by the historians of that period. He accompanied the Archduke Charles of Austria in the expedition against Barcelona in 1705, and was killed at the head of the storming party at the capture of Fort Montjuich on the 13th August, 1705.
HENRY MARQUIS DE RADA,
Appointed 1st February, 1694.
This nobleman was the son of the Marquis de Montpouillan; he served at the head of the Sixth foot, under King William, in the Netherlands, and died of a fever at Bruges, in the beginning of the campaign of 1695.
VENTRIS COLUMBINE,