Peregrine Maitland

Sir Peregrine Maitland
George Theodore Berthon's Sir Peregrine Maitland
Born	6 July 1777 (1777-07-06) Longparish, Hampshire, Great Britain
Died	30 May 1854 (1854-05-31) (aged 76) Eaton Place, West London, United Kingdom
Allegiance	Great Britain
Service/branch	Foot Guards
Years of service	1791–1836
Rank	General, 14 June 1815; Lt. General 1834; General 1843.
Commands held	Madras Army
Battles/wars	Haitian Revolution French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars
Other work	Lt. Governor of Upper Canada Lt. Governor of Nova Scotia Governor of Cape Colony

General Sir Peregrine Maitland, GCB (6 July 1777 – 30 May 1854) was a British soldier and colonial administrator. He also was a first-class cricketer from 1798 to 1808.

Born at Longparish House in Longparish, Hampshire, the eldest of five sons of Thomas Maitland of Lyndhurst, Hampshire, (d. 1798) by his spouse Jane, daughter of Edward Mathew, General of the Coldstream Guards by his wife Lady Jane (d. 21 August 1793), daughter of Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven. Thomas Maitland possessed plantations in the parish of St. Thomas Middle Island on the island of St. Christopher in the West Indies.

Military career

After joining the 1st Foot Guards at the age of 15 as an ensign he went on to serve in Flanders in 1794, by which time he had achieved his promotion to lieutenant. In 1798, he took part in the unsuccessful landing at Ostend. In the Peninsular War, he served at both the Battle of Vigo, and at Corunna, at which he won a medal. He took part in the Walcheren in 1809. During the later stages of the Peninsula War was second in command of his regiment at Cadiz, and later at the Battle of Seville.^[1]

He served with distinction at Quatre Bras and the Battle of Waterloo. Promoted in early June (3 June 1815) to major general, he was assigned to the First Corps, under overall command of the Prince of Orange. On 18 June, the day of Waterloo, he commanded two battalions of the 1st Foot Guards, each 1000-men strong and led the Guards in repelling the final assault of the French Imperial Guard.^[2] For his service at Waterloo, Maitland was dubbed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, (KCB) on 22 June 1815, the Dutch Order of Wilhelm and the Russian Order of St. Vladimir. For their part, the 1st Foot Guards were granted the honorary title of 'First or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards'.

He was appointed lieutenant governor of Upper Canada in 1818 and supported the Family Compact that dominated the province. He attempted to suppress and reform pro-American tendencies in the colony and resisted demands of radicals in the government. His tenure in Upper Canada ended in 1828 when he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia serving there from 1828 until 1834.

Maitland went to India and became commander in chief of the Madras Army in 1836 serving for two years. In 1844 he became governor of the Cape of Good Hope, but was removed during the Xhosa War. He is still highly respected in the Kingdom of Lesotho for his judgment on the border issue between the Orange River Afrikaners and the Basotho of King Moshoeshoe I, which, had it been implemented, would have secured the economic future of the kingdom. He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 6 April 1852.

Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia

Maitland became the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia on 29 Nov. 1828, with the added responsibility of commander-in-chief of the forces in the Atlantic region. He was popular. Certainly, his strongly moral conduct had an impact on Halifax’s society. By insisting on walking to church, he effectively ended the garrison parades on Sunday, the city’s major social event, and he publicly denounced the open market that day.

Maitland was responsible for the settlement reached for Pictou Academy. In dealing with immigration and settlement, he had lands laid out in Cape Breton at crown expense so that the 4,000 immigrants expected that year could be legally placed and systematically settled.

In October 1832 Maitland went to England on leave, presumably because of his health, and the government was placed in charge of Thomas Nickleson Jeffery. Though he continued to conduct official correspondence from England, he never returned to North America and he was succeeded in Nova Scotia by Sir Colin Campbell in July 1834.

First-class cricket career

Maitland was an amateur first-class cricketer who made 27 known appearances in first-class cricket matches from 1798 to 1808.

He was mainly associated with Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and he also played for Surrey and Hampshire.^[3]

Family

Peregrine Maitland was the eldest of five sons of Thomas Maitland (d 1797) and Jane Mathew (1759-1830), daughter of General Mathew. He had three sisters, and his eldest sister Jane married in 1800 a Lt. Colonel Warren of the Third Foot Guards. Maitland's maternal aunt married James Austin, brother of Jane Austen.^[4] Maitland married twice: (1) on 8 June 1803, in St George's, Hanover Square, (Westminster), to Louisa (d. 1805), daughter of Sir Edward Crofton, 2nd Baronet,^[5] and (2) at the Duke of Wellington's HQ during the occupation of Paris, 9 October 1815, Lady Sarah Lennox (1792–1873), one of the daughters of the 4th Duke of Richmond. He reportedly eloped with his second wife on account of the opposition of her father.^[6] By his first wife, he had one son, Peregrine Maitland b. 1 May 1804. By his second wife he had at least seven children:

Sarah (1817–1900), who married Thomas Bowes Forster (1802–1870), Lieutenant-Colonel in the Madras Army.
Charlotte Caroline Maitland b. 9 Dec 1817 d. 8 Jan 1897 m. 17 Jul 1837 John George Turnbull b. 10 Aug 1790 d. 2 Jan 1872
Charles Lennox Brownlow Maitland, b. 27 Sep 1823 d. 5 Jan 1891
Jane Bertie Maitland b. abt 1826 d. 27 Apr 1885
Emily Sophia Maitland b. 1827 d. 16 Dec 1891 m. 13 Jan 1846 Frederick Herbert Kerr b. 30 Sep 1818 d. Jan 1896
George Maitland 1830-1831 (buried at St. Paul's Church (Halifax))
Eliza Mary Maitland b. 1832 m. 14 Jul 1857 John Desborough b. 24 Jan 1824 d. 14 Jan 1918
Georgina Louisa Maitland b. aft 1832 d. 5 Jan 1852 m. 2 Jan 1844 Thomas Eardley Wilmot Blomefield d. 15 Jan 1896;
Horatio Lennox Arthur Maitland b. 13 Mar 1834 d. 29 Mar 1904;^[7]

He was buried at St Pauls Church in Tongham in Surrey.

Maitland in popular fiction

In his novel Les Misérables Victor Hugo credits Maitland (or Colville) with asking for the surrender of the Imperial Guard and receiving General Cambronne's reply of "Merde". (Chapter XIV. The Last Square)

Legacy

Maitland, Hants County, Nova Scotia is named after him. Maitland Street, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia is named after him. The Church of St. John the Evangelist Anglican in Niagara Falls, Ontario was constructed in 1825 largely through the efforts of Lieutenant-Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland. The church remained in regular use until 1957.^[8]

In South Africa Maitland, Cape Town, a light industrial and residential suburb, the Maitland River west of Port Elizabeth and numerous streets in the country are named after him.

References

↑ "Perigrine Maitland, Dictionary of National Biography, v. p.811.
↑ Charles Dalton, Waterloo Roll Call, Eyr and Spottiswood, 1904, p. 25
↑ Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744-1826), Lillywhite, 1862
↑ Deirdre Le Faye, Jane Austen's Letters. Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 552.
↑ London Metropolitan Archives, Saint George, Hanover Square: Hanover Square, Westminster, Transcript of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1802 Nov-1805 Sep, DL/t Item, 089/002.
↑ Canadian Institute, "Duke of Richmond (4th), The Canadian journal of science, literature and history, Volume 12, p. 241.
↑ Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Sir Peregrine Maitland. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?BioId=38173 2000 University of Toronto/Université Laval
↑ Ontario Heritage Trust Church of St. John the Evangelist

External sources

Government offices
Preceded by Samuel Smith	Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada 1818–1828	Succeeded by Sir John Colborne
Preceded by Thomas N. Jeffrey	Governor of Nova Scotia 1828–1834	Succeeded by Sir Colin Campbell
Military offices
Preceded by Sir Robert O'Callaghan	C-in-C, Madras Army 1836–1838	Succeeded by Sir Jasper Nicolls
Government offices
Preceded by Sir George Thomas Napier	Governor of the Cape Colony 1844–1847	Succeeded by Henry Pottinger
Academic offices
Preceded by New Position	Chancellor of King's College 1827–1828	Succeeded by Sir John Colborne

Lieutenant Governors of Nova Scotia

Post-Confederation (1867–present)	Williams Doyle Howe Archibald Richey McLelan Daly Jones D. Fraser McGregor MacKeen M. Grant Douglas Tory Stanfield Covert Irwin Mathers Kendall McCurdy A. Fraser Plow MacKeen Oland Gosse Shaffner Abraham Crouse Kinley Freeman Francis J. Grant

Lieutenant-Governors before Confederation (1786–1867)	Parr Bulkeley Wentworth Prévost (Croke) Sherbrooke Smyth Dalhousie Kempt Jeffrey Maitland Jeffrey C. Campbell Falkland Dickson Harvey Bazalgette LeMarchant Phipps Doyle MacDonnell Williams

Lieutenant-Governors of Cape Breton Island (1784–1820)	Desbarres Macarmick Mathews Ogilvie Murray Despard Nepean Swayne Ainslie

Governors before Confederation (1710–86)	Vetch Nicholson Caulfeild Vetch Caulfeild Philipps Doucett Armstrong Cosby Mascarene Cornwallis Hopson Lawrence Ellis Belcher Wilmot W. Campbell Green Francklin Legge Francklin Arbuthnot Hughes Hamond Parr

Lieutenant-Governors who served in the absence of Governors are listed in parentheses. Acting administrators are listed in italics.

Lieutenant Governors of Ontario

Post-Confederation (1867–present)	Stisted Howland Crawford D. A. Macdonald J. B. Robinson Campbell Kirkpatrick Gzowski Mowat Clark Gibson Hendrie Clarke Cockshutt Ross Mulock H. A. Bruce Matthews Lawson Breithaupt MacKay Rowe W. R. Macdonald McGibbon Aird Alexander Jackman Weston Bartleman Onley Dowdeswell

Province of Canada (1841–66)*	Clitherow Jackson Bagot Metcalfe Cathcart J. Bruce E. W. Head Monck

Upper Canada (1791–1841)	Simcoe Russell Hunter Grant Gore Brock Sheaffe de Rottenburg Drummond Murray F. P. Robinson Smith Maitland Colborne Bond Head Arthur Thomson

British Province of Quebec (1759–91)*	Amherst Murray Carleton Haldimand Carleton (2nd time)

* The Crown's representative from 1759 to 1791, and from 1841 to 1866 held the office and rank of Governor-General.

Governors of the Cape Colony

	British occupation 1806–1814	David Baird Henry George Grey Du Pre Alexander Henry George Grey John Francis Cradock Robert Meade

	British colony 1814–1910	Charles Somerset Rufane Shaw Donkin Richard Bourke Galbraith Lowry Cole Thomas Francis Wade Benjamin D'Urban George Thomas Napier Peregrine Maitland Henry Pottinger Harry Smith George Cathcart Charles Henry Darling George Grey Robert Henry Wynyard Philip Edmond Wodehouse Charles Craufurd Hay Henry Barkly Henry Bartle Frere Henry Hugh Clifford George Cumine Strahan Hercules Robinson Leicester Smyth Henry D'Oyley Torrens Henry Augustus Smyth Henry Brougham Loch William Gordon Cameron Hercules Robinson William Howley Goodenough Alfred Milner William Francis Butler Walter Hely-Hutchinson Henry Jenner Scobell Those in italics were Acting Governors

State President of the South African Republic State President of the Orange Free State Prime Minister of the Cape Colony Prime Minister of Natal

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 31802768 LCCN: no2008050927 ISNI: 0000 0000 7392 9057

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, March 12, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.