England, at what time does not exactly appear. We find him in Cambon’s, afterwards Marton’s, regiment, with a commission of Lieutenant-Colonel, dated 15th February 1693; he is called Francois Dc Montandre. We meet him as Colonel Montandre on October 3-14, 1701, receiving a pension of £200 per annum on the Irish establishment, for life.
Through the interest of the Earl of Galway, he was enrolled in the British army as a Brigadier in 1704, and he accompanied his patriotic chief to Portugal. When the General had been wounded at Badajoz in 1705, and the French were marching to raise the siege, the annalist states, “Marshal Tesse appeared upon some rising ground with part of his army; but the march of the confederate forces being covered by the Marquis De Montandre, with six battalions and eight squadrons, they drew off in very good order, and without any loss, on the 17th October 1705. The army rendezvoused at Elvas on the 19th, and then went into winter-quarters.”
Montandre visited England in the winter of 1706; and we learn from the Treasury Papers that he addressed a memorial to the Lord High Treasurer (Godolphin), which is thus summarized:— “He had acted as Major-General for the first campaign in Portugal, &c. — asks for his pay — and hopes to obtain a command from her Majesty as Major-General.” The following official memorandum is appended, “23 Nov. 1706, Mr. Bridges saies he has his pay as brigadier from 15 May 1705 to Xmas 1706 ready when he comes for it. He is to have pay as Major-General on ye establishment in ye service of ye K. of Portugal, pursuant to ye treaty, from Xmas next. My Lord thinks he has served well and deserves well to have a regiment.” The annalist says that the Marquis “who was a Major-General in the service of Portugal, and was made a Major-General in the English establishment, in consideration of his faithful and eminent services in Spain, set out in order to embark for that kingdom (from whence he had been sent by the Earl of Galway to represent the state of affairs there); having received a handsome present from her Majesty.” He was specially instructed to urge upon Lord Galway to continue in his high command in Spain. This was in December. In the following April, Lord Galway, having been abandoned to defeat at Almanza by the wayward King Charles, and having secured Catalonia for the ungrateful monarch, resumed the command in Portugal, and was accompanied by Montandre, who had been further rewarded with the colonelcy of a British regiment (the late Lord Dungannon’s). He never, however, had the honour of leading this regiment into action. On its way from Alicant, where its colonel had just died, to Lord Galway’s camp, early in the year 1707, the whole corps was lost to us. “A Person of Honour” (1740), in some gossiping reminiscences which he called “A true and genuine history of the two last wars against France and Spain,” has narrated the misadventure.
“The regiment set out under the command of their Lieutenant Colonel Bateman, reputedly a good officer. On his march he was so negligent (though he knew himself in a country surrounded with enemies, and that he was to march through a wood, and where they every day made their appearance in great numbers), that his soldiers marched with their muskets slung at their backs, and went one after another, himself at the head of them in his chaise, riding a considerable way before. A captain from the Duke of Berwick’s army had been detached, with threescore dragoons, to intercept some cash ordered to be sent to Lord Galway’s army from Alicant. This detachment, missing that intended prize, was returning disconsolately, when the captain observing the disorderly march of the English regiment, resolved to attack it in the wood. He secreted his party behind a barn, and as soon as they were half passed by, he, with his dragoons, fell upon them from the centre, cutting and slashing at such a violent rate, that he soon dispersed the whole regiment, leaving many dead and wounded on the spot. The three colours were taken; the Lieutenant-Colonel was taken out of his chaise, and carried away prisoner with many others. An ensign, so bold as to do his duty, was killed. The lieutenant who commanded the grenadiers, drew his men into a house, where he bravely defended himself for a long time, but he being killed, the rest immediately surrendered.”
At the battle of La Caya in 1709, the Portuguese brought on an action against the Spaniards against Lord Galway’s advice, and their cavalry of the right wing fled, abandoning their cannon to the enemy. Supported by the Portuguese cavalry on the left, Lord Galway brought up a British brigade and retook the cannon; but meanwhile his supports had run away, so that several regiments were made prisoners of war. The retreat of the Portuguese foot had thus been covered, while they repulsed their antagonists three times with great vigour and resolution. “The rest of the British infantry, commanded by the Marquis de Montandre. received the enemy’s fire on both flanks as well as in front, but made such bold stands and charges, that they secured the retreat of the Portuguese foot, and retired themselves
