John Despard
British Army general, colonial administrator
General
John Despard (fl. 4 August 1744 – 3 September 1829) was an Irish-born soldier of French descent who had a long and distinguished career in the British Army and as a colonial administrator. He was the brother of Edward Despard, also a soldier, who was executed in 1803 for his part in the Despard Plot.
John Despard was born in Dublin and served in the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence. He was in 24 engagements, had two horses shot under him, was shipwrecked three times, was taken prisoner twice, and had the standard of his regiment shot out of his hand at the age of 15.
He joined the army in 1760 as an ensign in 12th Foot. In 1762, he purchased a lieutenancy. After serving in the Seven Years' War, he was reduced to half pay from 1763 until he exchanged into 7th Foot (Royal Fusiliers) in 1768. He went with the regiment to Canada in 1773, and took part in the American War of Independence, being taken prisoner at St. John's in 1775.
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This entry incorporates text from “John Despard” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.