Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hewett, George
HEWETT, Sir GEORGE (1750–1840), commander-in-chief in India, born 11 June 1750, was only son of Major Schuckburgh Hewett (a descendant of an old Leicestershire family, who served under the Duke of Cumberland as an officer in the 3rd Buffs) and his wife, Anne Ward. He was sent to the grammar school at Wimborne, Dorsetshire, and his parents having died, resided with the Rev. William Major, rector of Wichley, Wiltshire. In 1761 he was entered as a cadet at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and the year after was given an ensigncy in the 70th foot, whose colonel, Cyrus Trapaud, had been a friend of his father. Hewett accompanied the regiment to the West Indies, where he served ten years. He served against the maroons in Grenada, and was brigade-major of the troops sent from that island to St. Vincent's during the Carib insurrection there. Returning home with his regiment in 1774, he obtained his company the year after, and went with the corps to Halifax, Nova Scotia, whence he was detached with the grenadier company to Long Island, and served with it as part of the 2nd battalion of grenadiers at the siege of Charleston. He afterwards embarked with it as marines on board Admiral Digby's [q. v.] flagship, in which Prince William, afterwards William IV, was serving as midshipman. He obtained a majority by purchase in the 43rd foot, and as deputy quartermaster-general accompanied a brigade of reinforcements under General O'Hara to the West Indies. He returned to New York after Rodney's defeat of the French fleet in 1782. Hewett commanded the 2nd battalion of grenadiers at New York until invalided home. When subsequently doing royal duty with his regiment, the 43rd, at Windsor, then a line station, he was very favourably noticed by George III. He proceeded in command of the regiment to Ireland in 1790. Three years later he was made adjutant-general in Ireland, and held the post until 1799. In 1794 he raised an Irish regiment, numbered as the 92nd—the third of four which have borne that number—which was drafted soon after. He became a major-general in 1796. He is credited with originating the ideas of a brigade of instruction in light duties, the command of which was given to (Sir John) Moore, and of a permanent commissariat staff (Private Record, p. 28). Lord Cornwallis refers to Hewett's removal to the English staff in 1799 as a very serious loss (Cornwallis Correspondence, iii. 119). Hewett was appointed to succeed Lieutenant-general Fox [see Fox, Henry Edward, 1755–1811] as head of the recruiting department in 1799, with a district command at Chatham and Maidstone. He was also made colonel-commandant of a new second battalion added to the 5th foot. In 1801 the headquarters of the recruiting department were removed from Chatham to Parkhurst, Isle of Wight, and Hewett was appointed to command the island as a part of the south-western district. He was transferred to the colonelcy of the 61st foot, 4 April 1800. In 1803 he was made inspector-general of the royal army of reserve, a force of forty thousand men raised by ballot under the Defence Acts (see Ann. Reg. 1804, Appendix). In 1805 he became barrackmaster-general, and in 1806 was appointed commander-in-chief in the East Indies. He landed in India 17 Oct. 1807, and left 18 Dec. 1811. Among the events of that period were the unfortunate disputes between the Madras officers and the government, and the despatch from India of the expeditions against the Isle of France (Mauritius) and Java. He was commander of the forces in Ireland in 1813–16, and was created a baronet in 1818. Hewett was a G.C.B., a full general, colonel 61st foot, and an Irish privy councillor. He married at Bath, 26 July 1785, Julia, daughter of John Johnson of Blackheath, by whom he had five sons and seven daughters. He is described as a tall, soldierly old man, much beloved in private life. He had resided some years at his seat, Freemantle Park, near Southampton (now the local suburb of that name), and had expressed a particular desire to see the 61st, of which he had been colonel for forty years, on its return home. By a curious coincidence he died suddenly the day the regiment landed at Southampton, 21 March 1840. He was buried in Shirley Church, and a monument was erected to him in the adjacent parish church of Millbrook.
[A Private Record of the Life of Sir George Hewett was privately printed in 1840. Some notices of Hewett in India will be found in Life and Letters of Gilbert Elliot, first Earl of Minto, 1807–14, London, 1879, pp. 147 et seq., 210, 223, 226. See also Foster's Baronetage, under ‘Hewett;’ Gent. Mag. 1840, pt. i. 539.]