Appointed 18th April, 1782.
Charles O'Hara was appointed cornet in the third dragoons in December, 1752, and in 1756 he was promoted to lieutenant and captain in the second foot guards. He served in Portugal in 1762, and performed the duties of quartermaster-general to the army under Lieut.-General the Earl of Loudoun. In 1769 he was promoted to the rank of captain and lieut.-colonel; and he served with his regiment in North America. In the autumn of 1781 he was promoted to the rank of major-general. He commanded the brigade of foot guards under Lieut.-General Earl Cornwallis, in Virginia; distinguished himself at the passage of the Catawba river on the 1st of February, 1781; and was wounded at the battle of Guildford on the 15th of March. In 1782 he was nominated to the colonelcy of the TWENTY-SECOND regiment; was removed to the Seventy-fourth highlanders in 1791, and was advanced to the rank of lieut.-general in 1793. He commanded the British troops at Toulon, and was wounded and taken prisoner in an action with the French republican troops on the 30th of November, 1793. His services were rewarded with the appointment of governor of Gibraltar, and in 1798 he was promoted to the rank of general. It is recorded that he possessed a happy combination of talents; was a brave and enterprising soldier, a strict disciplinarian, and a polite and accomplished gentleman. He died at Gibraltar on the 21st of February, 1802.
David Dundas.
Appointed 2nd April, 1791.
David Dundas was one of the most distinguished officers of the age in which he lived, for his perfect knowledge of the principles of military tactics. He commenced his military education at the age of thirteen in the academy at Woolwich, and at fifteen he assisted in a survey of Scotland; in 1756 he obtained a commission in the Fifty-sixth regiment. In 1758 he proceeded with the expedition to the coast of France as an assistant quartermaster-general; and in the following year obtained the command of a troop in a newly raised regiment of light dragoons (Eliott's light horse), now the fifteenth, or King's hussars. He served with his regiment in Germany in 1760 and 1761; in the following summer he accompanied an expedition to Cuba, as aide-de-camp to Major-General Eliott, and was actively employed in the reduction of the Havannah. After the peace he resumed his post in his regiment, in which he rose to the rank of major; and, urged by an ardent desire to acquire a perfect knowledge of every branch of his profession, he obtained permission to proceed to the Continent, to observe the practice of the French and Austrian armies. In 1775 he obtained the lieut.-colonelcy of the twelfth light dragoons, joined the regiment in Ireland shortly afterwards, and in 1778 received the appointment of quartermaster-general in that country. In 1782 he was removed to the lieut.-colonelcy of the second Irish horse, now the fifth dragoon guards. In 1785 he again proceeded to the Continent, attended the exercises of the Prussian troops during three summers, and after his return he presented His Majesty with a detailed account of their evolutions.
Colonel Dundas, having become a proficient tactician, produced, in 1788, a highly useful work on the principles of military movements, which became the basis of our army regulations for field exercises and movements. His abilities obtained for him the favour and attention of King George III., who appointed him adjutant-general in Ireland, for the purpose of introducing his system of tactics into the army of that country. In 1790 Colonel Dundas was promoted to the rank of major-general. In 1791 he obtained the colonelcy of the TWENTY-SECOND foot, and in the same year was placed on the Irish staff, but he resigned that appointment in 1793 to engage in service of actual warfare. After the commencement of hostilities with the French republic, Major-General Dundas was employed on a military mission to the island of Jersey, and was subsequently sent to the Continent to confer with the Duke of York respecting the siege of Dunkirk. From Flanders he proceeded to Toulon, where he commanded under Lieut.-General O'Hara, and when the lieut.-general was taken prisoner, he succeeded to the command of the garrison. His services there, although he was ultimately obliged to evacuate the place, called forth the approbation of his Sovereign and of the British nation. After abandoning Toulon, he made a descent on Corsica, which island was reduced and annexed to the British dominions; but shortly afterwards he received directions to proceed to Flanders, where he arrived in the spring of 1794, and commanded a brigade of cavalry at the battle of Tournay on the 22nd of May, 1794. Major-General Dundas was actively employed in the retreat through Holland, and the corps under his immediate command gained considerable advantage over the enemy in two successive actions near Gelder-Malsen; he highly distinguished himself also in an attack upon the French post at Thuyl, in December of the same year. He continued with the British troops in Germany during the summer of 1795, and in December was appointed colonel of the seventh light dragoons. After his return to England he was appointed quartermaster-general to the army; and he composed the celebrated regulations for the field exercises and movements for the cavalry, which were approved by his Royal Highness the Duke of York, and by King George III., and ordered to be exclusively adopted throughout the cavalry.
In 1799 Lieut.-General Dundas commanded a division of the allied army under the Duke of York, in the expedition to Holland; he distinguished himself in several actions with the enemy, and was highly commended by His Royal Highness in his public despatches. In 1801 he was appointed colonel of the second, or Royal North British dragoons, and was constituted governor of Fort George. In 1802 he was promoted to the rank of general; and in the following year, when the French were preparing to invade England, he was placed in command of the troops in the southern district, which comprised the counties of Kent and Sussex. In 1804 he was appointed governor of the Royal Hospital at Chelsea, and created a Knight of the Bath. On the 18th of March, 1809, His Majesty was pleased to confer on this distinguished veteran the appointment of Commander-in-Chief of the army, on the resignation of Field-Marshal His Royal Highness the Duke of York, which appointment he held until the 25th of May, 1811, when His Royal Highness was re-appointed. He was also appointed colonel-in-chief of the rifle brigade on the 31st of August, 1809. He was promoted to the colonelcy of the King's dragoon guards on the 27th of January, 1813. He died in 1820, after a distinguished service of upwards of sixty years.
William Crosbie.
Appointed 23rd December, 1795.
After serving in the subordinate commissions, William Crosbie was nominated captain of a company in the Twenty-eighth regiment, on the 9th of May, 1769; and in October, 1778, he was promoted to the majority of the seventh Royal Fusiliers, with which corps he served in the Carolinas; in April, 1781, he obtained the lieut.-colonelcy of the TWENTY-SECOND regiment. While stationed at Windsor in 1785, he obtained the permission of King George III. for the introduction of an order of merit in the corps, which under his command obtained a high reputation for correct discipline. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1790; and in 1793 received a letter of service for raising the Eighty-ninth regiment, of which he was appointed colonel. In 1794 he was advanced to the rank of major-general, and was removed to the TWENTY-SECOND regiment in 1795. He died on the 16th of June, 1798, at Portsmouth, of which fortress he was lieut.-governor at the time of his decease.