Welbore Ellis Doyle

Welbore Ellis Doyle
Welbore Ellis Doyle
3rd James Stuart
Succeeded by	Peter Bonnevaux
Personal details
Born	1758
Died	30 June 1797
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army
Rank	Major general
Commands	General Officer Commanding, Ceylon

Military Governor of British Ceylon. He was appointed on 1 January 1797 and was Governor until 2 July 1797. He was succeeded by Peter Bonnevaux.^[1]

Military service

Doyle was born in 1758 in Dublin, the fifth son of Charles and Elizabeth Doyle of Bramblestown, County Kilkenny, and a younger brother of

John Doyle

.

Doyle joined the army in 1770 as an

American War of Independence and was elevated to captain of the 55th in November 1777. Under Rawdon he served at the Battle of Camden

, 25 April 1781, after leading a small force to raid Snow Island in March. He sailed back to Great Britain with his brother and Rawdon later that year, but was captured en route by the French fleet, to be later exchanged.

Doyle was appointed

Ça Ira" to urge on its men, Doyle ordered his own men to strike up the same tune, saying "We'll beat them to their own damned tune". The position was taken and the 14th were ordered by York to henceforth use "Ça Ira" as their marching tune in honour of the occasion. Doyle was appointed brigadier-general in November 1794, and promoted major-general

in February 1795.

After the evacuation from Holland he joined the Royalist survivors of the invasion of France at the Île d'Yeu with 4 British foot regiments and 3 Royalist cavalry units from September, commanding the total 5,000 men. He commanded the attack on Hedic and Houat in August. Eventually this force was obliged to withdraw due to serious supply problems after the failure of the War in the Vendée to raise support.

Doyle was appointed colonel of the

Military Commander in Chief at Ceylon after his arrival on 1 January 1797, he died there suddenly on 2 January 1798, aged 39.^[2]

References

^ "Sri Lanka". Rulers.org. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
^ Dictionary of National Biography

Government offices
Preceded by James Stuart	Military Governor of British Ceylon 1797	Succeeded by Peter Bonnevaux
Military offices
Preceded by James Stuart	General Officer Commanding, Ceylon 1797	Succeeded by Peter Bonnevaux
Preceded by Gerard Lake	Colonel of the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot 1796–1797	Succeeded by Charles Crosbie

[1] "Sri Lanka". Rulers.org. Retrieved 20 June 2013.

[2] Dictionary of National Biography

[1]

[2]

Governors of British Ceylon
Military Governors	Agnew Stuart Doyle Bonnevaux de Meuron Andrews *
Governors	North Maitland Wilson Brownrigg Barnes Paget Campbell Barnes Wilson Wilmot-Horton Stewart-Mackenzie Campbell Emerson Tennent Torrington MacCarthy Anderson MacCarthy Ward Lockyer Wilkinson MacCarthy O'Brien Robinson Robinson Irving Gregory Longden Douglas Hamilton-Gordon Havelock Walker Ridgeway im Thurn Blake Clifford McCallum Stubbs Chalmers Stubbs Anderson Stubbs Manning Clementi Alexander Clifford Fletcher Stanley Bourdillon Thomson Tyrrell Stubbs Wedderburn Caldecott Moore**
Acting, Resident and Superintendent, became Governor-General of Ceylon*

Military service

Further reading

References