Frederick Stovin General Sir Frederick Stovin GCB , KCMG ( 1783 – 16 August 1865 ) was a British Army officer who served throughout the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 . After the end of the wars , he commanded colonial garrisons and served in administrative roles in Ireland , before retiring with the rank of colonel to take up a position at court as a Groom in Waiting under Queen Victoria . In retirement , he continued to rise through the ranks of general officer s by seniority , dying a full general . He originally joined the army as an ensign in the 52nd Foot in 1800 , and saw active service the same year in Spain . He later acquired a captaincy in the 28th Foot in 1803 ; he saw service in Germany and at the Battle of Copenhagen with the 28th , and then served on the staff under Sir John Moore until the Battle of Corunna . He was later an aide to General Alexander Mackenzie - Fraser , then to General Thomas Picton , and a divisional adjutant through the later stages of the Peninsular War . In 1814 – 15 he served in the War of 1812 , as a staff officer with the expedition sent to New Orleans , and had he not been detained by prosecuting at a court - martial , he would have served at the Battle of Waterloo . After the war , he commanded the 92nd Gordon Highlanders at Jamaica — where he scandalised his regiment by ordering them to adopt trousers instead of the kilt — and the 90th Light Infantry in the Ionian Islands , before retiring from active duty in 1829 . He then held a number of administrative roles in Ireland , including the state secretary to the Lord - Lieutenant and the commissioner of police in Ulster , and after the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 became a palace courtier . His final military role was the ( ceremonial ) colonelcy of the 83rd ( County of Dublin ) Regiment , which he held from 1848 until his death . Family and early career . Stovin was born at Whitgift , in the East Riding of Yorkshire , the son of James Stovin . He was the youngest son of a large family , by his father ' s second marriage ; his eldest half - brother , James , later became a clergyman , a fellow of Peterhouse , Cambridge and a magistrate in Yorkshire , whilst the younger half - brother , Richard , would also join the army , rising to the rank of lieutenant - general . Stovin joined the army at the age of seventeen , when he was commissioned as an ensign in the 52nd Foot on 22 March 1800 . He served with the regiment in the expedition to Ferrol , and purchased promotion to lieutenant on 10 January 1801 , he purchased a captaincy in the 62nd Foot on 20 November 1802 , giving him command of a company . He was put on half - pay after the Peace of Amiens , but on 19 July 1803 took a captaincy in the 28th Foot . Stovin served with the 28th during garrison duties in Ireland , and in the brief German expedition of 1805 , before seeing service at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 . He served under Sir John Moore in Sweden and then in Spain , in the lead - up to the Battle of Corunna . In 1809 he was the aide - de - camp to General Alexander Mackenzie - Fraser in the Walcheren expedition , then served at Gibraltar and in southern Spain with the 28th , returning to England in September 1810 . He briefly commanded the regimental depot , before returning to the peninsula in 1811 as General Thomas Picton ' s aide - de - camp , and later assistant adjutant - general ( AAG ) to Picton ' s 3rd Division , he received a majority by brevet on 28 April 1812 , and a brevet lieutenant - colonelcy on 26 August 1813 . He held the position of AAG until the end of the Peninsular War in 1814 , and received the Gold Cross with two clasps for his services . When an amphibious force was sent to North America in 1814 during the War of 1812 , Stovin was appointed its deputy adjutant - general ; he was wounded at the Battle of New Orleans . He prosecuted the case of Lieutenant - Colonel Thomas Mullins when the force returned to the United Kingdom — Mullins , commanding the 44th Foot , had been charged with neglecting orders during the battle . As a result , although he had been assigned to Picton ' s staff , he missed the opportunity to serve with him in the Waterloo Campaign . Stovin was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 2 January 1815 when the order was reorganised , and received the accolade and insignia of the order from the Prince Regent at Carlton House on 8 June . He married Anne Sitwell , daughter of Sir Sitwell Sitwell , 1st Baronet , on 4 October that year ; the two would remain married for forty years , until Anne ' s death in 1856 , but had no children . Unusually , Anne was a relative of his by marriage ; Stovin ' s sister Sarah Caroline had married Sir Sitwell after his first wife ' s death , making Stovin ' s new wife his step - niece . Regimental command . He received regimental promotion to major in the 28th Foot on 9 May 1816 . The regiment moved to a garrison posting in the Ionian islands in 1819 , and his time in the islands saw him command a force which put down a local rising on Santa Maura . On 2 September 1819 he purchased the substantive rank of lieutenant - colonel and command of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders . His tenure at the 92nd was short and contentious ; since it was garrisoned in Jamaica , he did not actually join the regiment until October 1820 , and then scandalised his officers and men by his approach to regimental traditions . He appeared on parade in a cocked hat rather than the conventional highland bonnet , and attempted to order the regiment to wear trousers rather than the kilt . The Duke of York quickly arranged for his transfer to a less sensitive role , and he was transferred to command the 90th Light Infantry , a Lowland — and safely trousered — regiment , on 9 August 1821 . The 90th were in the Ionian Islands , where Stovin had been posted some years earlier , but his second tour was substantially quieter ; he saw no further active service before he retired from the 90th on half - pay on 23 April 1829 . For his services there , he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George . Ireland . He was appointed as the military secretary to Sir John Byng , the Commander - in - Chief , Ireland , and in July 1831 became the State Secretary to the Marquess of Anglesey , the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . He was promoted to colonel on 22 July 1830 . In 1834 he became the Inspector - General of Police in Ulster , but was passed over for the position of Inspector - General of the Irish constabulary in 1836 ; the possibility of his appointment to the latter post had caused some concern among Irish Tories , who felt he was too critical of the Orange Order . He was later rumoured to be a candidate for the governorship of Dominica , in the West Indies , though this post does not seem to have materialised . In 1838 he was ordered to Canada to act as adjutant - general for the force garrisoned there after the Rebellions of 1837 . When Lord Hill was retiring from the post of Commander - in - Chief of the Forces in 1839 , Anglesey was suggested as a replacement to succeed him , although he eventually turned down the job ; had he taken it up , Stovin was widely expected to become his personal secretary , the same capacity he had served in Dublin . Royal service . On the accession of Queen Victoria , he took up roles in the Royal Household , becoming a groom - in - waiting on 27 July 1837 , and taking part in the coronation procession the following year . He still retained his army commission , and progressed steadily in rank through his retirement , becoming a major - general on 23 November 1841 , lieutenant - general on 11 November 1851 , and full general on 14 August 1859 ; on 1 September 1848 , he took the colonelcy of the 83rd ( County of Dublin ) Regiment of Foot . In 1855 , he accompanied the young Prince Alfred to Geneva to supervise his studies there . In 1858 he was appointed a member of the Royal Commission set up to look into the functioning of the militia . He resigned his role as groom in waiting on 18 November 1859 , because of ill - health ; he was appointed an extra groom in waiting on 28 March 1860 , and promoted Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 18 May 1860 . Stovin died on 16 August 1865 , at St James ' s Palace , London .