George Cathcart
George Cathcart


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George Cathcart 
Third surviving son of Sir William Schaw Cathcart, first Earl Cathcart.
 
Date (from)(Date to)Event
12 May 1794 Born.
10 May 1810 Cornet in the 2nd Life Guards.
1 July 1811 Lieutenant in 6th Dragoon Guards (or Carabiniers).
1813 Succeeded his elder brother as aide-de-camp and private secretary to his father on his embassy to Russia.
18151818Aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington (present at battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo).
May 1826 Lieutenant-colonel of 7th Hussars.
1828 Lieutenant-colonel of 57th Regiment.
1830 Lieutenant-colonel of 8th Hussars.
1838 Lieutenant-colonel of 1st Dragoon Guards.
23 November 1841 Colonel of 1st Dragoon Guards.
1846 Deputy-lieutenant of the Tower of London.
11 November 1851 Major-General.
January 1852 Succeeded Major-General Sir Harry Smith as governor and commander-in-chief at the Cape.
18?? Lieutenant-General.
30 May 1853 K.C.B. (Knight Commander of the Bath).
12 December 1853 Adjutant-general at the Horse Guards.
May 1854 Russian War; given command of 4th division of the army in the East.
5 November 1854 Died.
Killed during the attack on Mount Inkerman, Crimea.
According to the DNB: 'Cathcart was sent out [to the Cape] to establish a colonial parliament and revive the dying loyalty of the colonists, and also to crush the Basutos and Kaffirs. On his arrival he summoned the first Cape parliament, and granted them a constitution, and then marched against the Kaffir and Basuto chiefs. The Kaffirs were soon subdued, and in the autumn of 1852 he marched against the Basutos, Sandilli and Macomo. He pursued them right into the recesses of the mountains, to which no English general had ever before penetrated, and in February 1853 Macomo and the old rebel Sandilli surrendered to him, and were granted residences within the Cape Colony. Cathcart received the thanks of both houses of parliament'.
Literature: (DNB).


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