Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/De Lancey, Oliver (1803-1837)
DE LANCEY, OLIVER, the younger (1803–1837), Christinist officer, was the only son of General Oliver De Lancey [q. v.], barrack-master-general from 1792 to 1804, and was born in Guernsey in 1803. He entered the army as a second lieutenant in the 60th rifles on 30 March 1818, and joined the 3rd battalion of the regiment in India in the same year. He was promoted first lieutenant on 17 June 1821, and after serving as aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-general Sir Charles Colville, G.C.B., commander-in-chief at Bombay, was promoted captain on 7 Aug. 1829, and joined the 3rd battalion at Gibraltar, where he learnt Spanish and took a keen interest in Spanish politics and in the crisis which was rapidly approaching. His battalion returned to England in 1832, but De Lancey still kept up his interest in Spain, and was one of the first English officers who volunteered to join the Spanish legion which was being raised to serve under the command of Major-general Sir De Lacy Evans, K.C.B., against the Carlists. He sailed for Spain in 1835 with one of the first drafts from England, and on the way out showed his courage and presence of mind when his ship struck in a fog on the rocks off Ushant. On landing he was placed at the head of a regiment of the legion, and, after serving as acting adjutant-general at the action of Hernani, accompanied Lieutenant-colonel Greville in command of the expedition to relieve Santander, which was then hard pressed by the Carlists. The expedition was completely successful, and De Lancey received the cross of San Fernando and was appointed deputy adjutant-general to the legion. He distinguished himself throughout the defence of San Sebastian, and especially in the action of 1 Oct., and was sent on a delicate mission to Madrid, which he carried out to the satisfaction of his general. Not long after his return to San Sebastian the Carlists made a determined attack upon the town, on 15 March 1837, and in repelling it De Lancey was killed at the head of his regiment, just as his more famous cousin, Sir William Howe De Lancey, Wellington's quartermaster-general, was killed at Waterloo. His tomb is on the fort at San Sebastian.
[Gent. Mag. May 1837.]