Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sabine, Joseph (1662?-1739)
SABINE, JOSEPH (1662?–1739), general, born about 1662, came of a family settled at Patricksbourne in Kent; his grandfather, Avery Sabine, was an alderman of Canterbury. Joseph was appointed captain lieutenant to Sir Henry Ingoldsby's regiment of foot on 8 March 1689, captain of the grenadier company before 18 Oct. 1689, major of the late Col. Charles Herbert's regiment on 13 July 1691, and lieutenant colonel on 6 July 1695. He obtained the brevet rank of colonel on 1 Jan. 1703. He took part in William III's campaigns in the Low Countries, and afterwards served with the 23rd or royal Welsh fusiliers in the war of the Spanish succession. He was wounded on 2 July 1704 at the battle of Schellenberg, and on 1 April following became colonel of his regiment. He took part in the battle of Ramillies, being stationed with the fusiliers on the right of the English line. On 1 Jan. 1707 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. At the battle of Oudenarde on 11 July 1708 he led the attack on the village of Heynam, and afterwards he took part in the siege of Lille. On 1 Jan. 1710 he was appointed major-general, and three years later, on the conclusion of peace, returned with his regiment to England. In 1715 he purchased the estate of Tewin in Hertfordshire, and rebuilt the house in the following year. In 1727 he represented the borough of Berwick-on-Tweed in parliament, and on 4 March of that year he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. After being appointed general on 2 July 1730, he was nominated governor of Gibraltar, where he died on 24 Oct. 1739. He was buried in Tewin church.
Sabine was twice married: his first wife was Hester, daughter of Henry Whitfield of Bishop Stortford in Hertfordshire. His second wife was Margaretta (1682–1750), youngest daughter of Charles Newsham of Chadshunt in Warwickshire; by her he had five children, of whom Joseph, a captain in the Welsh fusiliers, was killed at Fontenoy.
Sabine's portrait was painted by Kneller in 1711, and engraved by Faber in 1742. [Granger's Biogr. Hist. ed. Noble, iii. 220; Dalton's Army Lists, iii. 78; Clutterbuck's Hist. of Hertfordshire, ii. 224, 229, iii. 190; Marlborough Despatches, ed. Murray, iii. 689, iv. 609, v. 20, 41, 531; Cannon's Hist. Record of the Twenty-Third Regiment, passim.]