Richard Stovin Lieutenant - General Richard Stovin ( died 1825 ) was a British Army officer during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries . He originally joined the army as an ensign in 1780 , and saw service in the American War of Independence , where he may have been taken prisoner after the Battle of Yorktown . After the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars , he saw service with a force sent to invade French colonies in the Caribbean , and was taken prisoner in 1794 at Guadeloupe . Released after two years in captivity , he later commanded his regiment in the Netherlands , in the Helder Expedition of 1799 , and on garrison duties in the Mediterranean and in India . In the War of 1812 he was appointed to command a division in the forces in Canada , where an island in the St . Lawrence river was named after him . Family and early career . Stovin was born at Whitgift , in the East Riding of Yorkshire , the son of James Stovin . His elder brother , James , later became a clergyman , a fellow of Peterhouse , Cambridge and a magistrate in Yorkshire , whilst his youngest half - brother , Frederick , would follow him into the army , rising to the rank of lieutenant - general . Stovin joined the 17th Regiment of Foot as an ensign on 16 June 1780 , and served at the end of the American War of Independence . The 17th Foot was present at the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781 , where it surrendered to the Americans ; some 244 officers and men were taken prisoner . However , it is not clear if Stovin was among them . He was promoted to lieutenant in May 1782 , but after the Treaty of Paris in 1783 he was placed on half - pay . He returned to active service by purchasing a lieutenant ' s commission in the 19th Regiment of Foot in January 1784 , and in October 1788 was promoted to captain in the 17th . He married Anne Acland ( b . 1761 ) , the grand - daughter of Sir Hugh Acland , 6th Baronet , and the sister of John Palmer - Acland , later an MP , and Wrothe Acland , later to become a lieutenant - general . Wrothe Acland had joined the 17th in 1787 , as an ensign , and remained with the regiment until 1793 ; this may have been how the two met . Following the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793 , he sailed with the flank companies of the 17th Foot for the West Indies . He was present at the Battle of Martinique in February and March 1794 , the landings at San Lucia , and the Invasion of Guadeloupe in April . He was publicly thanked by Sir Charles Grey , the commander of the force , for his role in the capture of the forts at San Lucia . The occupying force on Guadeloupe was counter - attacked in October , by a French force led by Victor Hugues , and Stovin was placed in command of one wing of the British force , defending the camp at Berville . He was taken prisoner by the French , and held until March 1796 . Senior command . On his release in 1796 , he was promoted to major , and posted to a staff position in Canada . He returned to his regiment in 1798 , when he took command of it in St . Domingo , and after the evacuation of the island was sent to England to raise two new battalions from volunteers in the militia . He then led them in the Helder Expedition of late 1799 , where he saw action at the Battle of Krabbendam and the Battle of Bergen in September . From 1800 to 1802 he served in the Mediterranean , returning to England after the Peace of Amiens . The 17th Foot was stationed in India from 1804 , and Stovin commanded them at the siege of Chumar in 1807 . He was given a brevet colonelcy in 1808 , and later posted to command a brigade in India . On 4 June 1811 , Stovin was promoted to major - general , and was sent to Canada in 1813 during the War of 1812 . He commanded the Centre Division from February to July 1814 , and the Right Division from October to December . Stovin Island , in the St . Lawrence River , was named for him after the war , one of a number of military commanders commemorated in the " Thousand Islands " . Stovin was promoted to lieutenant - general in 1821 , and died in 1825 .