Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stovin, Frederick
STOVIN, Sir FREDERICK (1783–1865), general, born in 1783, was the son of James Stovin of Whitgift, near Howden, Yorkshire. He was commissioned as ensign in the 52nd foot on 22 March 1800, served with it in Pulteney's expedition to Ferrol, where he was one of the few officers actually engaged, and became lieutenant on 7 Jan. 1801. He obtained a company in the 62nd foot on 24 June 1802, and (after a few months on half-pay) in the 28th foot on 9 July 1803. He served with the latter regiment in Ireland, where he was employed as brigade major, in Lord Cathcart's expedition to Bremen in 1805, and in the siege and capture of Copenhagen in 1807. In 1808 he served under Moore in Sweden, and afterwards in Spain in the Coruña campaign. He was aide-de-camp to General Alexander Mackenzie Fraser [q. v.] in the Walcheren expedition in 1809, and was present at the capture of Flushing. In January 1810 he went with the 28th to Gibraltar, and in April to Tarifa, where he distinguished himself in a sortie, driving the French out of an old convent which lay inconveniently close to the walls. He was brigade major at Gibraltar for a few months, but had to return to England in September on account of ill-health.
He went back to the Peninsula in July 1811, and, as aide-de-camp to Picton, he was present at the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo, and Badajoz. He was then appointed assistant adjutant-general to the 3rd (Picton's) division, and served with it in this capacity till the end of the war, without a single day's absence. He was present at Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, and Toulouse, and received the gold cross with two clasps. He was made brevet major on 27 April 1812, and brevet lieutenant-colonel on 26 Aug. 1813.
In 1814 he was appointed deputy adjutant-general to the expeditionary force against the coasts of the United States, and he took part in the unsuccessful attack on New Orleans, and was wounded there. On 2 Jan. 1815 he was made K.C.B. He was promoted major in the 28th on 9 May 1816, and obtained the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 92nd on 2 Sept. 1819. He commanded that regiment in Jamaica from October 1820 to the middle of 1821, when he exchanged (9 Aug.) into the 90th light infantry. He commanded the 90th in the Ionian Islands till 23 April 1829, when he was placed on half-pay. He was made K.C.M.G. for his services there, the order being at that time confined to Malta and the Ionian Islands. He became colonel in the army on 22 July 1830, and major-general on 23 Nov. 1841. He was groom-in-waiting to the queen from 1837 to 1860, when he was made an extra groom. He was given the colonelcy of the 83rd foot on 1 Sept. 1848. He became lieutenant-general on 11 Nov. 1851, and general on 14 Aug. 1859, and received the G.C.B. on 18 May 1860. He died at St. James's Palace on 16 Aug. 1865. In 1815 he married Anne Elizabeth, second daughter of Sir Sitwell Sitwell, bart.; she died at Brighton on 3 April 1856, aged 63.
[Gent. Mag. 1856 i. 550, 1865 ii. 511; Cadell's Campaigns of the 28th Regiment; Wellington Despatches.]