William Cartwright.
Appointed 28th November, 1807.
This Officer was appointed cornet in the tenth dragoons on the 22nd of February, 1769, lieutenant in 1775, captain-lieutenant in the Third dragoons in 1778, and exchanged in 1779 to the tenth dragoons, of which corps he was appointed major in 1786, and lieut.-colonel in 1793. The high condition of the tenth was a proof of his care and attention to all the duties of commanding officer; and in 1796 he was appointed colonel in the army, and aide-de-camp to King George III. Having been promoted to the rank of major-general in April, 1802, he was employed on the staff of South Britain during the succeeding six years, first in the inspection of cavalry regiments in the western district, afterwards in the command of the cavalry on the coast of Kent, in the command of the cavalry in the home district, and subsequently in the command of a brigade of cavalry in Kent, designed for foreign service. In 1804 he was promoted from the lieut.-colonelcy of the tenth, to the colonelcy of the twenty-third dragoons, and in 1807 he obtained the colonelcy of the King's Own dragoons. He was advanced to the rank of lieut.-general in 1808, to that of general in 1819, and in 1821 he was removed to the colonelcy of the King's dragoon guards. He was a member of the consolidated board of general officers: his decease occurred in February, 1827.
Stapleton Cotton, Viscount Combermere, G.C.B., and G.C.H.
Appointed 25th January, 1821.
Stapleton Cotton entered the army in 1790 as second lieutenant in the royal Welsh fusiliers. His services, in command of a troop of the sixth dragoon guards under the Duke of York in Flanders, under General Harris in the East Indies, at the Cape of Good Hope, under the Duke of Wellington in command of a brigade of cavalry at Talavera, in command of the British cavalry at Fuentes d'Onor, Salamanca, Orthes, Toulouse, &c. &c. &c., were rewarded with the dignity of Viscount Combermere, grand cross of the military order of the Bath, and grand cross of the royal Hanoverian Guelphic order. He was appointed to the colonelcy of the twentieth dragoons in 1813, to that of the King's Own dragoons in 1821, and was removed in 1829, to the first regiment of life guards, of which corps he has retained the command to the present time.
Lord George Thomas Beresford, G.C.H.
Appointed 16th September, 1829.
Lord George Beresford entered the service as cornet of the 14th light dragoons in April, 1794; he was shortly afterwards promoted, and, after serving in the grades of lieutenant and captain in the infantry, he obtained, in December, 1800, a majority in the 6th dragoon guards. In the following three years he was employed with that regiment in Ireland, and in attending Parliament as a member of the House of Commons for the county of Waterford, of which he was Custos Rotulorum. He was promoted to the rank of lieut.-colonel in Dillon's regiment in 1803, and when a second battalion was added to the 71st regiment, under the Additional Force Act, in the year 1804, Lieutenant-Colonel Lord George Beresford was selected for the command of it. In July, 1807, Lord George Beresford reverted to the cavalry branch of the service, and was appointed to the command of the 2nd, or Queen's Dragoon Guards, which he retained until his promotion to the rank of major-general on the 4th June, 1814. On the 16th September, 1829, his Lordship was appointed to the colonelcy of the Third, King's Own, Light Dragoons, and attained the rank of lieut.-general in the army on the 22nd July, 1830. His Lordship was brother to the late, and uncle to the present, Marquess of Waterford, and he died at the Palace at Armagh, the residence of his elder brother, the Lord Primate of Ireland, on the 26th October, 1839.