Royal Military College, which was honored with the approbation of Mr. Yorke, then Secretary at War, who was pleased to say "that he found many things to approve of in it," and added, "I think it contains several useful hints, and good observations, and I beg you will accept my thanks for the favor you have done me in sending it." In this pamphlet Major Armstrong strenuously urged the propriety of establishing a Military Order of Knighthood, as the incentive and the reward of professional zeal and exertions. When it was proposed in the British House of Commons to fortify London, this officer being then in England, attending a court of inquiry assembled at Chelsea, hẹ wrote a memoir on the subject, which he addressed to the then prime minister Mr. Addington, (now Lord Viscount Sidmouth) in which he demonstrated the futility of such a project by showing the great number of redoubts, cannon, and troops, that would be required upon such an extensive circuit, without giving effectual security to any part: the communication was not acknowledged, but the project was abandoned. In the month of November, 1803, Major Armstrong was placed on the Staff of Great Britain, as Assistant Adjutant-General, and stationed in Sussex, under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir James Pulteney. In the year 1804 he wrote, and transmitted to Mr. Pitt, an answer to "Sir Robert Wilson's Observations on the British army," which as it contained (in addition to a refutation of that officer's assertions) many remarks on the plans of defence adopted on the coast, and the organisation and arrangement of the public force, that highly distinguished statesman was pleased to keep the manuscript, and never returned it to the author. When Sir James Pulteney was removed from Sussex to the Eastern district, Major Armstrong accompanied him; and when he retired, this officer continued on the Earl of Chatham's Staff (who succeeded Sir James in the command of the district) about six months, when he was relieved by Lieutenant-Colonel Carey. Whilst serving upon the Staff with Sir James Pulteney, he wrote his system of fortification which by the nature of its construction, being composed of the segments of circles, is calculated to contain a greater number of guns, than any other plan upon a

similar scale; presents a direct defence on all sides, and completely prevents the operation of recochet batteries, and enfilade, as points of the interior of the defences only can be seen from the field. About this period Major Armstrong recommended to the Secretary at War the formation of light infantry battalions, as the most useful species of troops to defend a strong inclosed country such as England; and Mr. Windham' was pleased to express his approbation of the measure in the following terms: "I thank you for your communication, which is well deserving of consideration, both on account of the experience which the writer must have had of military matters, and of the principle upon which it seems to proceed. I have always had an opinion of the importance of light troops, and I am glad to have that opinion confirmed by professional men." In the year 1808 this officer published "Practical Observations upon the errors committed by General and Field Officers in the command of armies and detachments, together with his system of fortification, and suggestions for the improvement of military evolution." In the introduction to these works, the author again most strenuously urged the very great importance and propriety of holding out new incitements to professional exertions in the British army, by conferring personal distinction upon military zeal and achievement. At length this desirable system has been wisely adopted, and the officers of His Majesty's Forces are now as highly distinguish ed for their scientific knowledge, and general information, as they have been justly celebrated for their energy, steadiness, and courage. Towards the latter end of the year 1808, LieutenantColonel Armstrong was placed by the Earl of Harrington, Commander of the Forces in Ireland, upon the Staff, as Assistant Quarter-Master-General, and stationed at Limerick, where he remained until the reduction of the Staff in the year 1816. The 4th of June, 1813, he obtained the rank of Colonel in the army; and the 12th of August, 1819, that of Major-General.

603. MAJOR-GENERAL

SIR BENJAMIN D'URBAN, K.C.B.

THIS officer entered the army in 1793 as a Cornet in the 2d dragoon guards; he obtained a Lieutenancy in March, 1794; and the 2d of July following, a troop in the same corps. In the spring of 1795 he joined that part of his regiment serving in Germany, and in the end of the same year, when the cavalry was returning to England, he exchanged into the 29th dragoons, then embarked to accompany Sir Ralph Abercromby's expedition to the West Indies, proceeded with it thither, disembarked on the Island of St. Domingo in the middle of 1796, and returned in the command of the regiment to England in April, 1797. Towards the close of the same year he was removed to the 20th dragoons; and early in 1798 he was appointed Aid-de-Camp to Major-General Lord Pembroke, with whom he remained until May, 1799.-In July following he embarked for Jamaica, and was appointed Aid-de-Camp to Major-General St. John: he continued in the latter situation until November, 1799, when he was promoted to a Majority in the Warwickshire Fencible cavalry, with permanent rank in the army, with which he served till its reduction in April, 1800, when he was placed on half-pay; and in the close of this year, (1800) became a student at the Royal Military College at High Wycombe, under the late General Jarry. In the beginning of 1801 he was appointed to a Majority in the 25th light dragoons, continuing at the Royal Military College till the beginning of 1803, when he was appointed Superintendant of instruction to the junior department of the College then founded at Marlow, and exchanged into the 89th regiment of foot.

The 1st of January, 1805, he received the brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel; and in June of that year, the 89th regiment being under orders for foreign service, he resigned his Staff appointment and joined his regiment at Cork. He served in the expedition under Lord Cathcart in 1805. In December, 1806, he was appointed an effective Lieutenant-Colonel of the 9th Garrison Battalion, which he joined in January following. In October, 1807, he was removed to the 1st West India regiment,

and was called upon by Lord Harrington, Commander of the Forces in Ireland, to establish stations for the lines of Telegraphs. proposed to be erected between Dublin and the different sea ports of the South and South West Districts. In November, 1807, he was appointed Assistant Quarter-Master-General on the Staff in Ireland; and in January, 1808, removed to a Lieutenant-Colonelcy in the 2d West India regiment. He was then charged with the duties of the Quarter-Master-General's Department for the Limerick District, and finally at the Camp on the Curragh of Kildare, under Lieutenant-General Sir David Baird. In the autumn of 1808, he went to Spain as an Assistant Quarter-Master-General with the division of Sir David Baird, and on arriving in the Peninsula was attached in that capacity to the army of Portugal under Sir John Cradock, by whose orders he served with the corps of Sir Robert Wilson in Castile, and with the Spanish armies in Estremadura, till the month of April, 1809, when Marshal Lord Beresford having arrived to take the command of the Portuguese forces, he was appointed Quarter-Master-General of that army, and continued to serve in that post during the Peninsular war, with the successive ranks of Colonel, Brigadier-General, and Major-General in the Portuguese service; was present in the battles and sieges of Busaco, Albuhera, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, Salamanca, Vittoria, the Pyrenees, the Nivelle, the Nive and Toulouse; and has the honor to wear a Cross and five Clasps, and of being a Knight Commander of the Military Order of the Bath, of the Tower and Sword of Portugal, and of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order. On the 4th of June, 1813, he received the rank of Colonel in the army; and in April, 1816, was appointed Colonel of the Royal Staff Corps, and Deputy-Quarter-MasterGeneral of the Forces. The 12th of August, 1819, he received the rank of Major-General.

Sir Benjamin is one of the Commissioners of the Royal Military College, and of the Royal Military Asylum.

604. MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN LOCKE.

THIS officer was appointed Cornet in the 10th dragoons in 1793. He served in the West Indies in 1793, 1794, 1795,

Lieutenancy in the Royal Artillery, and in December following was removed in the same rank to the corps of Royal Engineers, In December, 1777, he proceeded, according to orders, to the West India Islands, and was there employed on many services during the war, and did not return to England until the year 1785. In May, 1795, he was sent as Commanding Royal Engineer on the first expedition against the Cape of Good Hope, and remained in that country until the year 1801. The 23d of March, 1786, he had been appointed First Lieutenant and Captain-Lieutenant and Captain the 25th of September, 1793.

In the latter end of the year 1802, he was appointed Commanding Royal Engineer in Ceylon, and there continued eight years. In March, 1805, he had the rank of LieutenantColonel; the 4th of June, 1813, that of Colonel; the 21st of July following was appointed Colonel in the Royal Engineers; and the 12th of August, 1819, received the rank of MajorGeneral. He is now Colonel of the Royal Invalid Engineers.

609. MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL TREVOR DICKENS.

THIS officer entered as Gentleman Cadet at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, the 21st of April, 1778; he obtained a 2nd Lieutenancy in the Royal regiment of Artillery the 16th of June, 1779; and was immediately ordered to Coxheath camp, to the command of the battalion guns of the East Suffolk Militia; in November of the same year he was ordered back to Woolwich. In January, 1780, he embarked with a detachment of Royal Artillery, and sailed for the West Indies, but was obliged by contrary winds to put back to Torbay, and while there, was removed from the Artillery to the Engineers, and ordered to Plymouth; he served in the Western District till March, 1784, when, being ordered to Gibraltar, he embarked for that fortress, where he arrived the following May. He was appointed Aid-de-Camp to the first Lord Heathfield, (then Sir George Elliott), in 1785; and continued in that situation, till his Lordship embarked for England. In 1787, having succeeded to a first Lieutenancy of Engineers, he was appointed Director of the Revenue Works by General O'Hara; and employed by