Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Le Marchant, John Gaspard (1803-1874)
LE MARCHANT, Sir JOHN GASPARD (1803–1874), lieutenant-general, colonial administrator, third son of Major-general John Gaspard Le Merchant [q. v.], was born in 1803. On 26 Oct. 1820 he was appointed ensign in the 10th foot; in 1821 he became lieutenant in the 57th foot, in 1825 captain in the 57th and afterwards in the new 98th foot, and in 1833 major in the latter regiment, with which he served at the Cape. All his steps except the first were purchased. In 1836 he exchanged to an unattached majority, and was appointed adjudant-general, with the rank of brigadier-general, in the British auxiliary legion in Spain, under Generals Evans [see Evans, Sir De Lacy] and Chichester [see Chichester, Sir Charles in the Carlist war of 1835-7. He was present at the relief of, and action before, Bilbao in September 1835, the affairs on the heights of Arleban in Alava, (16-18 Jan. 1836), the raising of the siege of San Sebastian and the storming of the Carlist lines (4 May 1836), the passage of the Urmea, the taking of Passages, the general action at Alea in October 1836, and the general actions at Ermani, 10, 13, 15, 16 March 1837. For his service to the queen of Spain he was created knight-bachelor in 1838, and received special permission to wear the Spanish decoration of San Fernando and Charles III. In 1838 be purchased the lieutenant-colonelcy in the 99th foot returning from Mauritius, and in 1845 was transferred to the 85th light infantry, returning from the West Indies. Both the corps be brought into a high state of discipline, introducing in each a most elaborate system of interior economy. He left the 85th in 1846, on selection for the government of Newfoundland. He became colonel in 1851, major-general in 1858, lieutenant-general in 1661. Le Marchant was lieutenant-governor of Newfoundland from February 1847 to June 1852, lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia from June 1852 to December 1867, governor of Malta from 1859 to 1864 (during which period be held local rank of lieutenant-general), and commander-in-chief at Madras from 1865 to 1868. He was K.C.B. (civil, 1865), G.C.M.G. (1860), a lieutenant-general and colonel 11th (Devonshire) regiment. Le Marchant died at 80 St. George's Square, London, on 6 Feb. 1874. He married, in 1839, the third daughter of the Rev. Robert Taylor of Clifton Campville, Staffordshire, coheiress of her maternal grandfather, the Rev. John Watkins of Clifton all in the same county.
[Burke's Baronetage and Knightage, 1873; Army Lists; Colonial List. 1873; Duncan's Hist. Anglo-Spanish Legion, London, 1877 (?): lllustr. London News, 1874.]