The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-10-14 00:00:00

THE LATE FIELD-MARSHAL SIR JOHN

BURGOYNE.
We regret to have to record the death of thip veteran
officer, the "Father of the British Army," which took
place on Saturday, the 7th Met., at half-past eleven
o'clock in the morning. Sir John, who wag in his
ninetieth year, had never wholly recovered the shock
of the loss of his only son, Captain Hugh Burgoyne,
on board the Captain, last year; but he had
rallied from a recent attack, and until lately spent
several hours downstairs. Four days ago he \Va.-4
again confined to his bwl, and on Saturday
morning he passed away as peacefully as a child.
Until a recent period, few of the physical or mental
si;rns of advanced old age were apparent in the vener-
able soldier. Those who met him in the intimacy of
his own circle could not fail to be impres.:ol by his ex-
traordinary alertness and vigour, and still more by his
perfect simplicity of manner and singular sweetness of
nature. Ile has pawed away carrying with him the
affectionate regard of the service, of his family, and of
a host of friends. The Daily News gives the following
sketch of his career:—
The father of the subject of this notice was Lieutenant-
General John Burgoyne, a son of Lord Bingley. More than
a century ago lw was a member of Parliament, and almost
,Iniottnno,e,/c his name was brought before the ...lid as a
I- tiler Mt dramatic pieces, anoo.! w Inch we may
mention '‘ The liii of th. I eiks,'"• Ihe Heiress,' and
" The Lord of the Man,r, which in their ,lay had a :taiga
ancee, General But goyne -is severely assailed byJunio,:
marrii,lthe da.ighter el the thi. n Earl II Derby; commanded
the British tomes in Canada was forced, with the troops
his command, to surrender to the Ani..rieaflt as pri-
soners of war retomed home was appointed to the coin-
MAW of the forces In Ireland wrote two colonies if
diamatic and poetical works ; died in June, 1792, and Was
buried in Westminster Abbey.

Jan Fox Burgoylie—the st-iloject id our present memoir—
first saw the light of 41Ity in the year 179.4 1111 d etatertsi the
corps id Royal Engineers in 1700, no that his military career
was considerably in excess of threescore years. Ills first name
lie derived (ruin his father, his second christian name lie bore
after tharles Janne, Pox, who stood sponsor to him at the
font. The active military career of the future field-marshal
ennimere.ell with the blockade of Malta and the surrender of
Valette in the first year of the present century. In 1,06 we
Mid him selling w ith the army in Sicily, and in the follow-
ing par he went on to Egypt under Sir It. Abercromby,
and was present at the capture of Alexandria and
the attack on Rosetta. Shortly afterwards he accompanied
the expedition from Sicily destined for Portugal under Sir
John M..ore, and returned with it to England. tie afterwards
accompiuded sir John Nloorea army to Sweden, and thence
again to Portugal, and took part in the disastrous hut not in-
glorious retreat of Corinina. In 1000 we find him joining the
army of the Penlmula under Sir Arthur Wellebley, arid
remained with it till the or of the war in 1814,
taking an netiVO part in nearly all the sieges, and
pr. Feet alt, at or. A ..f the act .0. As Com-
mending h..eal Eugiu.s.r, bit MD Dade,' the siege .01
IturgQs ; awl at :,411 Sebastian the oonnuarvi of the
singe liev,•l..ri upon him on the death of Sir R. Fletcher,
who wan Killed in the trenches before its walls. tie was
twice wonnoed la the Peninsular campaign, and received
the (Ha r- dine no.l nor ch“a for Badakz, Salamanca, Vit-
toria, San Sebastian, and Nita ; the diver war medal, with

three clasps. for Busaeo. Ciudad Rodrigo. and Nirelle ; and
he had conferred upon him the Portuguese Order of the
Tower and be :Ad, at the recommendation of the Duke of
Wellington. who Idghly esteemed him tor his bravery and pret-
tyish ThroughoutthePenbasularcampaigußurgeyne
lid been attached to the Third (Cr Fighting )Divislon, at the
express request of the gallant fir Thomas Picton. In iSto,
Chen the army embarked for Flanders, that general again
applied for colonel Burgoyne's services. Unfortunately, how-
ever, the Mastervieneral of the Ordnance, with w hom the
appointment rested, was obliged by that 'unitary etiquette
which has so often stood iu the way of the energy and effec-
tiveness of British officers to refuse the application. In rgoyne,
however, though not preeent at Waterb., joined the Army
of Occupation at Paris in July, and remained with it until its
return to England. Ile had already distinguished himaelf
as commanding engineer at the siege of New Orleans, under
icorral Pagenham, stud for Ide conduct on that onensiun his
name had lava highly mated iu the home despatches.

1tk.2.8 we find him accompanying the army sent to
Portugal, under Sir William IT. Clinton. no Commanding
Engin,r. He returned with it to England at the close of
the expedition , and in lag:7, chortle after having attained
the rank of a geld ulllcer, was invested nitlt the Order of the
bath.

For fifteen ears, imply, from MO to 1k45, he was em-
ployed in a civil capacity as Chairman of the Board of Public
Works in Ireland, and Ids name is thus associated with those
great engineering operations which tended no much to
ders lop the resources of the country and to ameliorate the
condition of Its people. In 1045 he was recalled to his mili-
tary ditties, bring appointed to the important post of Inspec-
tor-General of Fortifications. This office, which brought Sir
John Burgoyne into constant confidential communication
with the Ministers of the Urown, enabled him to place before
them the defetweless state of our country at that time, and
his representations on this subject drew from the Duke of
Wellington his celebrated letter which that roused the
attention of the publip to the monition of our armaments,
am) for a time put a stop to measures of retrenehmes and
economic reform.

At the period of the Irish famine, in Ur, Sir John Bur-
goyne was selected by Lord John Russell, at that time
Premier, to organise and conduct the Commlision appointed
for the relief of the suffering population of that Island—s
task for which his pievious Irish experience had admirably
tr. alined him.

The brevet of ISM promoted Sir John Burgoyne to the
rank of Lieutenant-General, and shortly afterwards he had
conferred at him the highest military decoration, the Grand
Croaa (4 the Order of the Bath.

In February, 185.4, sshen it became evident that war
with Russia was imminent, Sir John Burgoyne was sent
out by the Bovernmend to Turkey, to report on the
best means of fortifying Constantinople. Ile returnullo
England in April ; and as soon as the expedition
against Sebastopol was resolved upon, he WAS ap-
pointed Lieutenant-General on the Stall of the Army of
the East, it being considered that his great military
talents and engineering experience would prove of essential
use in all those operations of which the Crunea was destined
to become the scene. It was he who timt suggested the Bank
march to Italaklava, who pointed out the Slalakoff as the
key of Sebastopol, and wino conducted the siege operations
beh,re Sebastopol during the whole of the trying and fatal
winter of ISA —55. He returned to England in the spring of
the latter year, leaving the work whirls he had originated to
be carried on by his successor, the late Sir Harry D. Jones.
At the close of the Russian war honours were thickly, but
not undeservedly, showered upon Sir John Burgoyne. Ile
was created a Baronet, mid made a Grand Officer of the
Legion of Honour, nail received from the Sultan of Turkey
the Order of the Medjidie of the First Class, lie was also
elected a Fellow of tine Royal Society, created an Honorary
Doctor of Civil Law at Oxford, and made Colonel Com-
mandant of tine Royal Engineers. More recently, namely,
inn ISrs, he was made Conaable of the Tower of L onbm, and
presented with the baton of a field-marshal, and with the
freedom of the city of London.
- '

sir John Burgoyne's pen, like that of his father, has not
been idle but he always employed it—not upon dramatic
literature and graceful poetry—but upon professional sub-
jects and his pamphlet on'' Army Reform" is well known as
an important contnbution to our military literature.
Sir John Burgoyne inlsrried, In 11421, Charlotte, daughter of
the late Colonel Ilugh Rose, of llohne, Nairnshire, by whom
he had a lousily of several daughters, and also a son, Hauls
Talbot. captain in the navy, who w as born in Dublin in 1033.
Ile was in Colllllland if the Captain when she foundered last
year, anti perished with her.