James Henry Craig General Sir James Henry Craig KB ( 1748 – 12 January 1812 ) was a British military officer and colonial administrator . Early life and military service . Craig came from a Scottish family whose father was a judge of the civil and military courts in the British fortress of Gibraltar . At the age of 15 in 1763 he was enrolled as an ensign in the 30th ( Cambridgeshire ) Regiment of Foot . Colonel Robert Boyd , the lieutenant governor of Gibraltar in 1770 endorsed his promotion to an aide - de - camp which allowed him to later take command of a company in the 47th ( Lancashire ) Regiment of Foot stationed in the American colonies . Service during the American War of Independence . After the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1775 , Craig took part in the Battle of Bunker Hill , where he was badly wounded , but refused to leave his regiment , and participated in the defence of Quebec in 1776 , where he met the American invaders at Trois - Rivières while commanding the advance guard that forced them back beyond the border . During 1777 he was wounded twice , once seriously , during engagements at Fort Ticonderoga , Hubbardton , and Freeman ’ s Farm . Major - General John Burgoyne , who expressed high regard for Craig as an officer , recommended him for the rank of a major in the 82nd Regiment of Foot ( Prince of Wales ' s Volunteers ) in recognition of his service . From 1778 to 1781 Craig served with the 82nd Regiment in Nova Scotia , at Penobscot , and later in North Carolina . Due to constant involvement in operations during the war , Craig usually led light infantry troops . His rapid promotion suggests that Craig possessed an unusual degree of initiative and resourcefulness . Service during the Napoleonic Wars . After promotion to lieutenant - colonel in 1781 , Craig became Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey in 1793 and then an adjutant general to the Duke of York in the 1794 Army of Netherlands , being promoted to major - general . In 1795 , the Netherlands fell under the revolutionary government of Napoleon ' s France , and Stadtholder Prince William V of Orange became a refugee in England . A British force under General Sir James Craig set out to Cape Town to secure the colony against the French . The Battle of Muizenberg successfully wrested control from William V of Orange to Britain . In 1795 he served with Vice - Admiral Viscount Keith and Major - General Alured Clarke in occupying the Cape Colony from the Dutch Republic where he became governor of the new possession , and remained in that posting until 1797 , for which he received the Order of the Bath . In the same year Craig sailed to Madras , and saw combat in the Bengal region of India for which he was again promoted to lieutenant - general in January 1801 . Craig returned to England to serve for three years as the commander of the Eastern District . In 1805 , despite poor health , he was appointed to lead the Anglo - Russian invasion of Naples , but after a brief occupation , the mission was aborted after the news of Austrian defeat at the Battle of Ulm . Service in Canada . Craig concurrently held the positions of Governor - General of the Canadas and lieutenant - governor of Lower Canada from 1807 to 1811 . Craig considered measures such as creating English counties and replacing the legislative assembly with an appointed government as a means of increasing the power of English speakers in predominantly French Lower Canada . He also tried to encourage immigration from Britain and the United States in hopes of making the French a minority .