William Skinner (British Army officer)
William Skinner | |
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Siege of Gibraltar 1756–1763 Seven Years' War |
Lieutenant-General William Skinner (1700 – 25 December 1780) was
Life
Skinner was born in
Career
Skinner was accepted as a practitioner engineer on 11 May 1719.
In 1746 he was sent to Scotland where the government intended to increase the fortifications now that the
James O'Hara, 2nd Baron Tyrawley became Governor of Gibraltar in 1756[3] and set about improving the fortifications. These changes came under the notice and criticism of Lord George Sackville and Skinner wrote a report describing their inefficiency and arbitrariness. The two of them attended the House of Commons in 1758 where O'Hara harangued Skinner who took the anger in good humour.[4] There appears to have been no long term damage as O'Hara was given the rank of field marshal in 1763.[3]
Skinner died in Greenwich still working on Christmas Day 1780. His widow, Margaret, and his granddaughter both received exceptional annuities as there was some regret that Skinner had not been as well as he might have been. Despite spending huge sums his personal wealth at his death was a single house and a £500 annuity. Skinner's son was drowned in 1861 but his grandson, William Campbell Skinner was a successful American engineer.[2]
References
- ^ a b c William Skinner, DNB, accessed 31 January 2013
- ^ ISBN 9780727729392.
- ^ a b Stuart Handley, ‘O'Hara, James, second Baron Tyrawley and Baron Kilmaine (1681/2–1773)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 2 Feb 2013
- ^ Paul Latcham, ‘Skinner, William (1699/1700–1780)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 1 Feb 2013
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