Edward Baynes
British Army officer
Edward Baynes (1768–1829) was an officer in the British Army. He served, mainly in staff roles, during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. However, he is best known for serving as one of the principal staff officers in British North America during the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States of America.
Early career
He entered the army as an Ensign in 1783. During his early military career, he served mainly in the West Indies, including a spell as commander of a detachment of troops serving as marines aboard a frigate. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1790.
Craig's aide-de-camp
Between 1794 and 1806 he served as aide-de-camp to Lieutenant General Sir James Craig, whose duties as military commander and colonial administrator took him to the Cape of Good Hope, Bengal, the East Indies, Gibraltar, Malta, Naples and Sicily. Baynes was promoted to the substantive rank of captain in 1795, to brevet major in 1796, to the substantive rank of major in 1800 and to brevet lieutenant colonel in 1802.
Baynes returned briefly to England in 1806. In August, he was appointed adjutant general to the forces in British North America.
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This entry incorporates text from “Edward Baynes” 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.