Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stewart, William (1774-1827)
STEWART, Sir WILLIAM (1774–1827), lieutenant-general, born on 10 Jan. 1774, was second son of John, seventh earl of Galloway, by Anne, daughter of Sir James Dashwood, bart. Charles James Stewart [q. v.] was his younger brother. William received a commission as ensign in the 42nd foot on 8 March 1786, became lieutenant in the 67th foot on 14 Oct. 1787, and captain of an independent company on 24 Jan. 1791. In that year he went with Sir Robert Murray Keith [q. v.] to Vienna and to the congress of Sistova. His company was disbanded in December, and he was appointed to the 22nd foot on 31 Oct. 1792. He served with that regiment in the West Indies in 1793–4, and commanded a company in the grenadier battalion at the capture of Martinique and Guadaloupe. He was wounded in the unsuccessful attempt on Point-à-Pitre on 2 July 1794, when Guadaloupe had been recovered by the French. He returned to England in November, and obtained a majority in the 31st foot.
He was made lieutenant-colonel in the army and assistant adjutant-general to Lord Moira's corps on 14 Jan. 1795, and in June he served on the staff of the expedition to Quiberon. On 1 Sept. he was given command of the 67th foot, and went with it to San Domingo. He was commandant at Mole St. Nicholas, with the local rank of colonel, till it was handed over to Toussaint l'Ouverture in August 1798. Returning to Europe, he obtained leave to serve with the Austrian and Russian armies in the campaign of 1799, and was at the battle of Zurich.
It was probably what he saw of Croats and Tyrolese in this campaign that led him to propose, in concert with Colonel Coote Manningham, that there should be a corps of riflemen in the British army. The proposal was adopted, and an experimental ‘corps of riflemen’ was formed in January 1800 by detachments from fourteen regiments. This was brought into the line two years afterwards as the 95th, and eventually became the rifle brigade. Manningham was colonel and Stewart lieutenant-colonel of it, his commission being dated 25 Aug. 1800. The organisation and training of the corps fell to Stewart, for Manningham was equerry to the king. The standing orders show how much he was in advance of most soldiers of his time. Medals for good conduct and for valour, lectures, school, library, classification in shooting, and athletic exercises were among the means adopted to heighten the efficiency of the corps. He preferred Irish recruits, as ‘perhaps, from being less spoiled and more hardy than British soldiers, better calculated for light troops.’ Charles James Napier [q. v.] was a subaltern in the corps in 1802, and wrote of Stewart as open-hearted and honourable in the highest degree, but with much passion, much zeal, and not the least judgment (Life and Opinions, i. 25–9).
In August 1800 Stewart went with three companies of his rifles to Ferrol in Pulteney's expedition, and was dangerously wounded in the first skirmish. He commanded the troops which served as marines in the fleet sent to the Baltic in 1801. He was himself on board Nelson's flagship at Copenhagen, and wrote the best account of the battle (in Clarke and McArthur's Life of Nelson. The journal on which it was based is in the Cumloden Papers). Nelson wrote of him to St. Vincent as ‘the rising hope of our army,’ and there was a cordial and lasting friendship between them. By Nelson's wish Stewart's first son was named Horatio. Stewart was included in the vote of thanks of parliament, and was made colonel from 2 April.
In 1804 he was appointed brigadier of volunteers in the eastern counties, and in 1805 he published ‘Outlines of a Plan for the general Reform of the British Land Forces,’ in which he recommended for general adoption many of the institutions which he had already introduced into his own corps. In December 1806 he took command of a brigade in Sicily, and three months afterwards went on to Egypt with Fraser's expedition. On 3 April he was sent to Rosetta with 2,500 men to avenge Wauchope's repulse. Though a most ardent soldier, he was afraid of responsibility; he wished that the command had devolved on some one else, and felt ‘a sort of inward presentiment that matters would not go well.’ In his first reconnaissance he received a bullet-wound in the arm. He invested the town and made batteries, but did not risk an assault. On the 21st the Turks received reinforcements from Cairo, and cut to pieces a detachment of seven hundred men which he had placed at El Hamed, and he had to fight his way back to Alexandria, losing three hundred more on the road.
The expedition returned to Sicily in September, and Stewart was commandant of Syracuse till February 1809, when he came home. He had been promoted major-general on 25 April 1808, and on 31 Aug. 1809 he was made colonel of the 3rd battalion of the corps he had formed, the 95th rifles. He commanded the light brigade in the Walcheren expedition, but was invalided early in September.
In January 1810 he was sent to the Peninsula to command the British and Portuguese troops which were to form part of the garrison of Cadiz. He did well there, but was soon superseded in the chief command by Thomas Graham (afterwards Baron Lynedoch) [q. v.] In July he left Cadiz, and was appointed to the 2nd division of Wellington's army under Hill. He was present at Busaco, but could not obtain the medal, as he was not ‘personally and particularly engaged.’ In December Hill was invalided, and Stewart commanded his corps for a time, but his self-distrust led Wellington to send Beresford to take Hill's place.
In 1811, after Masséna's retreat, the 2nd division—still forming part of Beresford's corps—shared in the first siege of Badajoz, and bore the brunt of the battle of Albuera. The 1st brigade of it (Colborne's) was nearly destroyed there by a sudden attack of French lancers on its rear as it was advancing to charge the French infantry. According to Napier, this happened because ‘Stewart, whose boiling courage generally overlaid his judgment, heedlessly led up in column of companies,’ without waiting to deploy, as Colborne wished to do. But the charge was made by three deployed battalions (out of four), and, according to Sir Benjamin d'Urban, Beresford's quartermaster-general, Stewart's fault lay rather in rejecting Colborne's proposal to keep a wing of one regiment in column. There can be no doubt that his impetuosity had something to do with the result; but the urgency of the case and the mist which hid the French cavalry go far to excuse him. Beresford had nothing but praise for him in his despatch, and he was thanked by parliament. In July he went home on account of ill-health, and was employed in the eastern district.
In August 1812 he was again appointed to the army in the Peninsula, with the local rank of lieutenant-general. He joined on 6 Dec., and was given command of the 1st division. It comprised the brigade of guards, and a question of privilege soon arose, as he was not a guardsman. In April 1813 he was transferred to his old division, the 2nd. On 4 June he became lieutenant-general. At Vittoria he was on the right under Hill, who spoke highly of his conduct. He was included in the thanks of parliament, and was made K.B. on 11 Sept. When Soult tried to relieve Pampeluna, the 2nd division was guarding the passes near Maya, and was attacked on 25 July by three divisions of d'Erlon's corps, and forced back. Stewart reached the field late, having been at Elisondo with Hill, and reformed his line. Four Portuguese guns, which were moving by his order to the new position, stuck fast, and were taken by the French. Wellington referred with some asperity to the loss of these guns in a postscript to his despatch. Stewart took part in Hill's action at Buenza on the 30th, and next day he led the attack on the French rearguard at the Dona Maria pass. In this attack he was badly wounded, having been already slightly wounded on the 25th. He was present at the Nivelle, Nive, and Orthes, and had a prominent part in the combat of Aire and a minor part at Toulouse. He was popular with the men of his division, among whom he was known as ‘auld grog Willie’ on account of the extra allowances of rum which he authorised, and which Wellington made him pay for. For his services in the Peninsula he received the gold cross with two clasps, the Portuguese order of the Tower and Sword, and the Spanish order of San Fernando. On 2 Jan. 1815 (on the enlargement of the order of the Bath) he received the G.C.B.
Stewart had been M.P. for Saltash in 1795, and for Wigtonshire from 1796 onward, and on 24 June 1814 the speaker thanked him in his place, on behalf of the house, for his share in the victories of Vittoria and Orthes, and in the intermediate operations. He saw no further service. His health was broken by seventeen campaigns, in which he had received six wounds and four contusions, and in 1816 he resigned his seat in parliament. In July 1818 he was transferred to the colonelcy of the 1st battalion of what had then become the rifle brigade. He settled at Cumloden on the borders of Wigton and Kirkcudbrightshire, near the family seat. He died there on 7 Jan. 1827, and was buried at Minigaff. In 1804 he married Frances, daughter of the Hon. John Douglas (second son of the Earl of Morton), and he left one son, Horatio, a captain in the rifle brigade, and one daughter, Louisa.
[The Cumloden Papers, printed for private circulation in 1871, containing a memoir, with extracts from his journals, and correspondence with Nelson and Wellington; Cope's Hist. of the Rifle Brigade; Verner's The first British Rifle Corps; Gent. Mag. 1827, i. 175; Royal Military Calendar, ii. 322; Wellington Despatches; Napier's War in the Peninsula; Beresford's Further Strictures on the War in the Peninsula, p. 159.]