Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hay, Andrew (1762-1814)
HAY, ANDREW (1762–1814), major-general, lieutenant-colonel 1st or royal regiment of foot, son of George Hay of Mount Blairey and Carnousie House, Forglen, Banffshire, was born in 1762, and on 6 Dec. 1779 appointed ensign in the 1st or royal foot, in which he served some years, obtaining a company in the old 88th in 1783, and afterwards returning to the 1st royals. He subsequently retired on half-pay 72nd foot. In September 1794 he was appointed major, and was placed on half-pay of the late 93rd foot, when that regiment was broken up in Demerara in 1796. While on half-pay he raised the Banffshire or Duke of York's own fencible infantry, and commanded it in Guernsey, Gibraltar, &c., in 1798–1802. In 1803 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 16th battalion of the army of reserve, and afterwards of a second battalion of the 72nd, formed out of men enrolled in the army of reserve in Scotland, which he commanded until 1807, when he was transferred to the late 3rd battalion 1st royals, which he commanded as part of Baird's reinforcements at Corunna. He commanded a brigade at Walcheren. Returning with his battalion to Spain, he commanded a brigade of the fifth division in the Peninsula from 1 June 1810 (Wellington Suppl. Desp. vii. 112) to the end of the war, including the battles of Busaco, Salamanca, Vittoria, the assault on St. Sebastian, where his brigade took a leading part, the passage of the Bidassoa, and the succeeding operations on the Adour, during which he was in temporary charge of the fifth division, the battles on the Nive, and the investment of Bayonne. He attained the rank of major-general 4 June 1811. He was mortally wounded, when general officer of the day, commanding the outposts, on the occasion of the French sortie from Bayonne on 14 April 1814.
The officers of the 3rd battalion 1st royals erected a monument to General Hay at St. Etienne, Bayonne, which has lately been restored, and, according to precedent in the case of general officers falling in action, a public monument was voted to him—a huge and tasteless composition by Humphrey Hopper—which was placed in St. Paul's Cathedral, on the west side of the north door.
Hay married, 2 April 1784, Elizabeth Robinson of Banff, who, with six children, survived him. An elder son, Captain George Hay, 1st royals, was mortally wounded at the battle of Vittoria in 1813, when serving as his father's aide-de-camp.
[Army Lists; Cannon's Hist. Rec. 1st or Royal Regiment of Foot; Gurwood's Well. Desp. vii. 454, 490; Wellington Suppl. Desp. vols. vii. and viii. and index in vol. xv. In these will be found details of the composition of Hay's brigade at various periods. Interesting reports by Hay of the operations on the Bidassoa are given ib. viii. 303, 309, and of the precautions taken for the protection of the inhabitants of St. Sebastian after the capture, ib. viii. 421–3. Notices of the Hays of Blairey occur in Scots Mag. xlvi. 223, lvi. 62; Gent. Mag. 1814, pt. i. 517, 624.]