William Green ( general ) General Sir William Green , 1st Baronet , of Marass , Kent ( 4 April 1725 – 10 January 1811 ) was an officer in the British Army . After receiving a private education in Aberdeen , Scotland and a military education at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich , England , he was appointed as a practitioner engineer in 1743 . Green served on the European continent until 1752 , after which he was in Canada . There , he continued to advance through both the ordinary military and engineering ranks . Following his return to England , Green was named senior engineer for Gibraltar about 1761 , and the next year promoted to lieutenant colonel . He was promoted to chief engineer for Gibraltar in 1770 , and designed and executed a number of military works on the Rock . In 1772 , his idea of a regiment of military artificers , to replace the civilian mechanics who had formerly constructed military works , came to fruition in the form of the Soldier Artificer Company , the predecessor of the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners . Their works included the King ' s Bastion , which Green designed . Promoted to colonel in 1777 , he served as chief engineer throughout the Great Siege of Gibraltar ( 1779 – 1783 ) . During the siege , he was promoted to brigadier general , then major general . He returned to England in 1783 ; three years later a baronetcy was created for him . He was appointed chief engineer of Great Britain in 1786 . His promotions included that to lieutenant general in 1793 and full general in 1798 . Following his retirement in 1802 , he settled in Plumstead , Kent . Family . William Green was born on 4 April 1725 , the eldest son of Fairbridge Green and his wife Helen Smith . His father ' s name has also been given as Godfrey Green . His mother was the sister of Adam Smith ( 1723 – 1790 ) , author of " The Theory of Moral Sentiments " and " An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations " . Green received his education from his mother ' s sisters at Aberdeen , Scotland . He married Miriam Watson , daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Justly Watson of the Royal Engineers , on 26 February 1754 . His wife was also the granddaughter of Colonel Jonas Watson ( 1663 – 1741 ) , who led the Royal Artillery at the Siege of Carthagena , where he died . Green ' s children with Miriam Watson included a son , Justly Watson Green . His son , an officer who attained the rank of colonel , attended Prince Edward , later the Duke of Kent , in his travels , and died unmarried , without issue . Green and his wife had six other children , including : William Smith Green , who died as a young child ; Miriam Green , who married and had seven children ; Helen Mary Green , who married and had three children ; Susannah Green ; Louisa Anne Green ; and Charlotte Green . Military career . On 1 January 1737 , Green became a cadet gunner , entering the Royal Military Academy at the Woolwich Warren in Woolwich , southeast London . After his appointment as a practitioner engineer on 12 March 1743 , Green was stationed at Portsmouth . He served in Flanders with the engineer brigade and was a participant in the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745 . The following year , he saw action in France at L ' Orient and Quiberon . Green was promoted to sub - engineer on 2 January 1747 . That year , he sustained wounds and was taken prisoner at the Battle of Val . He also saw action at the Siege of Bergen - op - Zoom . Green was appointed engineer - extraordinary on 2 January 1748 . After the British Army withdrew from Flanders , he and other engineers stayed to survey the Austrian Netherlands . After he left the Netherlands , he returned to Portsmouth , where he remained until 1750 . He then went to Landguard Fort , under the command of Justly Watson . Plans that he and another officer drew up of the tunnels and caves of the fortress of Luxemburg , and of the area between Bois - le - Duc and Geertruidenberg , are held by the British Museum . That museum also retains his plans of the fortress of Bergen - op - Zoom , dated 1751 . Green surveyed and reported on the defences of Newfoundland in 1752 . Three years later , he became chief engineer of Newfoundland . When the engineers first received routine military titles , he was commissioned as captain lieutenant . In Halifax , Nova Scotia , he trained the soldiers in military engineering . On 4 Jan 1758 , Green received promotions to engineer - in - ordinary and captain . He was a participant in multiple actions in Canada , including those at Montmorenci , Quebec , and the Plains of Abraham in 1759 . In September of that year , he was promoted to sub - director , an engineer rank , and major . He remained with the Canadian campaign until its conclusion , after which he returned to England . In 1761 , Green was sent to Gibraltar as senior engineer . The following year , he was promoted to lieutenant colonel . Green returned to England in 1769 to present his suggestions for improving the defence of Gibraltar to the Board of Ordnance . He returned to Gibraltar in 1770 ; his report on the defences of Gibraltar is held by the British Museum . General Skinner , the chief engineer of Great Britain , supported the expenditures necessary for Green ' s military works , which were then undertaken . Green was promoted to chief engineer of Gibraltar on 7 November 1770 and the following year designed the hospital at Gibraltar . Prior to 1772 , military works in Gibraltar were constructed by civilians from England and the European continent . Those civil mechanics were free to leave the Rock of Gibraltar whenever they decided to do so . Their disorderly behaviour was a source of frustration to the military authorities . The situation induced Lieutenant Colonel William Green to suggest the creation of a company of military artificers , a regiment of trained artisans . On 6 March 1772 , a warrant was issued for the creation of a 68 - man regiment , the Soldier Artificer Company . It was the predecessor of the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners . The Soldier Artificer Company built King ' s Bastion . Green designed the fortification , along with other eighteenth century bastions along the coast . In 1777 , Green was promoted to colonel , after which he was sent by Governor George Augustus Eliott to England to request additional funds to further improve the military works at Gibraltar . His meetings included several with the king and he returned to Gibraltar the following year , authorized to proceed with the new works . He was promoted to director , an engineer rank , on 18 December 1778 . During the Great Siege of Gibraltar ( 1779 – 1783 ) , Green served in a prominent role as the chief engineer of Gibraltar . In 1781 , during the siege , he was promoted to brigadier general . However , the position of his home left his family exposed to enemy fire . After he moved his family into a shelter , his wife Miriam contracted an illness from which she never recovered . She died on 21 June 1782 . On 18 July 1781 , the Queen ' s Battery at Willis ' s Plateau sustained severe damage from enemy fire . Overnight , Green had it completely rebuilt . In late 1781 , he was promoted to major general . The following year , he constructed the Great Siege Tunnels , including St . George ' s Hall . On 13 September 1782 , with Gibraltar under attack from both land and naval forces , his kilns maintained a continuous supply of red hot shot . Green rebuilt the Orange Bastion while under persistent attack . The siege ended in February 1783 . He left for England in June of that year , after serving in Gibraltar for twenty - two years , most of it as chief engineer , including throughout the Great Siege . A baronetcy was created for Green in June 1786 , with his seat at Marass , Kent . He was appointed chief engineer of Great Britain in November of that year . He was also named as a board member on the fortifications of Plymouth and Portsmouth . Green became president of the defence committee in 1788 . In 1793 , he was promoted to lieutenant general , followed by his promotion to full general on 1 January 1798 . Green retired on a pension in 1802 , and resided at Brambleberry House , Plumstead , Kent . Legacy . General Sir William Green died on 10 January 1811 at Bifrons , near Canterbury , Kent , although his date of death has also been given as February 1811 . He was interred at Plumstead . In addition to an inscribed gravestone in the cemetery , there is also a commemorative plaque to Green in Plumstead Church . His son , Colonel Sir Justly Watson Green , 2nd Baronet of Marass , Kent , succeeded to the baronetcy , became extinct upon his death . Green is one of the officers depicted in " The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar , September 1782 " " ( pictured above ) " by John Singleton Copley ( 1738 – 1815 ) . The painting shows Green in the group of officers around the mounted governor , with Green standing immediately next to Governor George Augustus Eliott . He is also one of the officers depicted in the 1784 painting " ( pictured at right ) " by George Carter entitled " The Siege of Gibraltar , 1782 " . The portrait is held by the National Portrait Gallery . A portrait of Green , oil on canvas , that was executed circa 1785 , is held by the Convent , the residence of the Governor of Gibraltar . Part of the Government Art Collection , it is entitled " Major - General Sir William Green , Royal Engineers ( Chief Engineer during the Siege of Gibraltar 1779 - 83 ) " . Green ' s Lodge Battery was named after General Sir William Green , then Lieutenant Colonel Green . The artillery battery was constructed in 1776 at the North Face of the Rock of Gibraltar at the northern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve , above Farringdon ' s Battery . Also referred to as the Superior Battery , it saw action during the Great Siege of Gibraltar . The emplacement is listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust . In addition , Green ' s Lodge Nature Trail extends off Signal Station Road in northern Gibraltar .