Albert Borgard Albert Borgard ( Danish : " Albrecht Borgaard " or " Borregaard " ; 10 November 1659 – 7 February 1751 ) was a Danish artillery and engineer officer . Early career . He came of an ancient Danish family , and was born at Holbech , in Jutland . He joined the Danish army in 1675 , during the war between Sweden and Denmark , and was made a gunner in 1676 . He served throughout the war , and at its close , in 1679 , held the rank of fireworker , and was ordered to make a survey of the island of Zealand . " In 1680 , " he wrote , " I , with another fireworker , was ordered to Berlin , in exchange of two Brandenburg her fireworkers , sent to Denmark to learn the difference of each nation ' s works , relating to all sorts of warlike and pleasant fireworks " . He served at the relief of Vienna , at the battle of Gran , and the siege of Buda . In 1688 he left the Danish service , on account of " some injustice done him in his promotion " , and went to Poland as a volunteer ; but he was offered a commission in the Prussian Guards , which he accepted . In the Prussian army he served upon the Rhine , and at the siege of Bonn . In 1692 he left the Prussian army , with a commission to raise a regiment for the emperor ; but failing in this design , he went in April to the camp of Louis XIV before Namur . He distinguished himself in the attack on the fortress ; and the French king ordered him 1 , 000 crowns , and offered him a captain ' s commission . But Borgard , a sturdy Protestant , refused the tempting offer , and joined Colonel Gore , whose acquaintance he had made at Bonn , as a volunteer . British service . Though but thirty - three years of age when he joined the English army , he had been present at eleven battles and twelve sieges , and was one of the most experienced artillery and engineer officers in the world . Gore introduced him to William III , who saw his ability , and made him a firemaster in the English service in 1693 , and captain and adjutant of the artillery in Flanders in 1695 . He was present at the battles of Steenkirk and Landen and the sieges of Huy and Namur . When at the peace of 1697 all the foreign artillerymen in English pay were dismissed , he , with only one other officer named Schlunt , was taken to England , and in 1698 made an engineer by William III ' s special command . In 1702 he helped to take Forts Ste . - Catherine , Matagorda , and Durand . On his return to England he married Barbara Bradshaw , by whom he had several children . After serving in Flanders he was gazetted lieutenant - colonel of artillery , and sent to command the artillery in Spain and Portugal in the army of Lord Galway . He took Valencia de Alcántara , Ciudad Rodrigo , and Alcántara , and made Galway ' s advance into Spain justifiable from a purely military point of view . In 1708 he superintended the reduction of the castle of San Felipe in Minorca . He was present with Stanhope at the battles of Almanza , Almanara , Saragossa , where he was wounded in four places , and at Villa Viciosa , where he was wounded , left for dead , and taken prisoner . On being exchanged he returned to England , and was appointed chief firemaster on 9 August 1712 . In 1713 he made use of some of his old Berlin lessons in " pleasant fireworks " , and , to quote his own words , " made pleasure fireworks which were burnt on the River Thames in the month of August over against Whitehall on the Thanksgiving - day for the peace made at Utrecht " . In 1715 he commanded the train of artillery sent to the Duke of Argyll in Scotland , in 1718 he was made assistant - surveyor of ordnance , and in 1719 commanded the artillery in the expedition to Vigo . This was Colonel Borgard ' s last piece of active service ; but his greatest service of all was the formation of the Regiment of Royal Artillery . Royal Artillery . In his own account of his services Borgard says : " In 1722 his late Majesty was graciously pleased to renew my old commission as colonel , and to give me the command of the regiment of artillery , established for his service , consisting of four companies . " His honourable behaviour as colonel - commandant is noted in a letter of his nephew , Major - General Albert Borgard Michelsen : " He was strictly honest , and declared often , and shortly before he died , that he could safely affirm it upon oath that he had never made 6 pence out of his regiment above what the king allowed , and gave up the cloathing of the regiment to the Board of Ordnance , that he might not be suspected to have any profit of it . . . He was in great favour with Prince George of Denmark , and with King George the 1st and 2nd " ( Olsen ) . Borgard was promoted major - general in 1735 , and lieutenant - general in 1739 . When he died at Woolwich , on 7 February 1751 , at the great age of ninety - two , he left to his successor , General Belford , one of the finest corps of artillery in the world . Sources . , which cites :