John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford

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Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order
Prince Regent of in bend sinister
a representation of the colour of the 31st Regiment of Foot, in recognition of his heroic action at the Battle of the Nive

GCH, PC (Ire) (1772 – 3 June 1860) was a British Army officer and politician. After serving as a junior officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and Irish Rebellion of 1798, he became Commanding Officer of the Grenadier Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards during the disastrous Walcheren Campaign. He served as a brigade commander at the Battle of Vitoria and then at the Battle of Roncesvalles
on 25 July 1813 when his brigade took the brunt of the French assault and held its position for three hours in the early morning before finally being forced back.

During the Hundred Days, he commanded the 2nd Guards Brigade at the Battle of Quatre Bras in June 1815 and again at the Battle of Waterloo later that month when light companies from his brigade played an important role in the defence of Château d'Hougoumont. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Ireland and, after leaving Ireland in 1831, he was elected as Whig Member of Parliament for Poole in Dorset and was one of the few military men who supported the Reform Bill, for which he was rewarded with a peerage.

Origins

He was the third son of George Byng (1735–1789) of Wrotham Park in Middlesex (now in Hertfordshire) (eldest son of Robert Byng (1703–1740), Governor of Barbados) by his wife Anne Conolly, whose mother was a daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1672–1739), (of the second creation of that title). His great-grandfather was Admiral George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington (1663–1733) of Southill Park in Bedfordshire.[1]

Career

Early promotions

He was educated at Westminster School.[2] He was commissioned as an ensign in the 33rd Regiment of Foot ("Duke of Wellington's Regiment") on 30 September 1793[3] and was promoted to lieutenant on 1 December 1793[4] and to captain on 27 December 1794.[5] He was sent to the Netherlands later that year where he was wounded during a skirmish at Geldermalsen in January 1795 during the Flanders Campaign.[6]

In 1796 Byng became

lieutenant-colonel in the 29th Regiment of Foot on 18 March 1800.[8] He transferred to the 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards on 11 August 1804[9] and took part in the expedition to Hanover in 1805, in the Battle of Copenhagen in August 1807 and, having taken command of the Grenadier Battalion of his Regiment, in the disastrous Walcheren Campaign in Autumn 1809.[6]

Napoleonic Wars

Promoted to

Lowry Cole rushed up reinforcements in the early afternoon and then fended off the French until the evening when thick fog rolled in.[11] Byng's stubborn resistance at Roncesvalles allowed the Marquess of Wellington (later the Duke) to consolidate enough troops to defeat the French at the Battle of the Pyrenees over the next few days.[2]

Battle of the Nive

Byng also fought at the

Prince Regent told him that he was

"permitted to wear over the arms of the family of Byng, in bend sinister, a representation of the colour of the 31st Regiment of Foot," and the following crest of honourable augmentation: "out of a mural crown an arm embowed, grasping the colour of the aforesaid 31st regiment, and pendent from the wrist by a ribband the gold cross presented to him by His Majesty's command, as a mark of His royal approbation of his distinguished services".[12]

Waterloo

Byng went on to fight at the

I Corps, and took part in the advance on Paris.[13] Having captured the Péronne and its fortress,[14] the Corps went on to occupy the heights of Montmartre and then to form part of the Army of Occupation.[15] He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 2 January 1815[16] and a Knight of the Austrian Military Order of Maria Theresa on 8 October 1815.[17]

Ireland and politics

The Battle of the Pyrenees: Byng's stubborn resistance at Roncesvalles allowed the Viscount Wellington (shown on horseback in the painting) to consolidate enough troops to defeat the French at the Battle of the Pyrenees

Byng became General Officer Commanding the

Wrotham Park.[27]

Byng also served as honorary colonel of the

2nd West India Regiment[28] and as honorary colonel of the 29th Regiment of Foot;[29] in his final years he was also honorary colonel of the Coldstream Guards.[15] He was promoted to field marshal on 2 October 1855[30] and died at his home in Grosvenor Square in London on 3 June 1860.[15]

Family life

Byng married twice:

References

  1. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4262. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4264. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  3. ^ "No. 13589". The London Gazette. 2 November 1793. p. 974.
  4. ^ "No. 13628". The London Gazette. 1 March 1794. p. 192.
  5. ^ "No. 13734". The London Gazette. 23 December 1794. p. 1259.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Heathcote 1999, p. 63
  7. ^ "No. 15216". The London Gazette. 24 December 1799. p. 1331.
  8. ^ "No. 15239". The London Gazette. 15 March 1800. p. 260.
  9. ^ "No. 15726". The London Gazette. 7 August 1804. p. 953.
  10. ^ "No. 16390". The London Gazette. 24 July 1810. p. 1094.
  11. ^ Chandler 1979, p. 384
  12. ^ "No. 17037". The London Gazette. 8 July 1815. p. 1358.
  13. ^ Siborne 1848, p. 689.
  14. ^ Siborne 1848, p. 689–690.
  15. ^ a b c d e f Heathcote 1999, p. 64
  16. ^ "No. 16972". The London Gazette. 4 January 1815. p. 19.
  17. ^ "No. 17075". The London Gazette. 31 October 1815. p. 2186.
  18. ^ David R. Fisher and Stephen Farrell, BYNG, Sir John (1772–1860), of 6 Portman Square, Mdx. and Bellaghy, co. Londonderry in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820–1832, ed. D.R. Fisher, 2009
  19. ISBN 978-0198719816
    .
  20. ^ Reid, p. 138
  21. ^ "No. 18141". The London Gazette. 28 May 1825. p. 925.
  22. ^ "No. 18859". The London Gazette. 11 October 1831. p. 2083.
  23. ^ "No. 19066". The London Gazette. 12 July 1833. p. 1347.
  24. ^ "No. 19268". The London Gazette. 8 May 1835. p. 900.
  25. ^ "No. 20044". The London Gazette. 24 November 1841. p. 3007.
  26. ^ "No. 20769". The London Gazette. 31 August 1847. p. 3162.
  27. ^ "Wrotham Park, Barnet". Hertfordshire Genealogy. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  28. ^ "No. 17840". The London Gazette. 3 August 1822. p. 1275.
  29. ^ "No. 18439". The London Gazette. 5 February 1828. p. 238.
  30. ^ "No. 21792". The London Gazette. 2 October 1855. p. 3652.

Sources

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1885–1900 Dictionary of National Biography's article about Byng, John.
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Lowry Cole
 GOC Northern District
1816–1828 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
1828–1831 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Governor of Londonderry
1832–1860 		Office abolished
Preceded by Colonel of the York Light Infantry Volunteers
1815–1816 		Regiment disbanded
Preceded by
Sir James Leith
 Colonel of the 4th West India Regiment
1816–1819 		Regiment disbanded
Preceded by Colonel of the
2nd West India Regiment

1822–1828 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Colonel of the
29th Regiment of Foot

1828–1850 		Succeeded by
The Lord Downes
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Poole
1831–1835
Served alongside: Benjamin Lester 1831–1835
Charles Tulk 1835 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Colonel of the Coldstream Guards
1850–1860 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Earl of Strafford
3rd creation
1847–1860 		Succeeded by
Baron Strafford
descended by acceleration

1835–1853
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