Charles Colville General Sir Charles Colville GCB , GCH ( 7 August 1770 – 27 March 1843 ) was a British Army officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars . He was an ensign in 1781 . He served in the West Indies from 1791 to 1797 and while serving there was promoted to lieutenant - colonel ( 1796 ) . He helped to suppress the Irish rebellion of 1798 . He was in Egypt in 1801 and fought against Martinique in 1809 . He commanded brigade , and afterwards division , in the Peninsula War from 1810 until 1814 . During the Waterloo Campaign of 1815 he commanded a division in Belgium and the same year was awarded a K . C . B . . In 1819 he was promoted to lieutenant - general and served as commander - in - chief at Bombay from 1819 until 1825 . He was governor of Mauritius from 1828 until 1834 . He was promoted to general in 1837 . Biography . Charles Colville was the second son of John Colville , 8th Lord Colville of Culross in the peerage of Scotland , was born on 7 Aug . 1770 . Colville entered the army as an ensign in the 28th regiment on 26 December 1781 , but did not join until 1787 , in which year he was promoted lieutenant . In May 1791 he was promoted captain into the 13th Somersetshire light infantry , with which regiment he remained for nineteen years , until he became a major - general . He joined it in December 1791 in the West Indies , and remained with it until its return to England in 1797 , seeing much service in the interval , especially in San Domingo , and being promoted major 1 September 1795 and lieutenant - colonel 26 August 1796 . Colville then commanded the 13th in the suppression of the Irish insurrection of 1798 , and in the expedition to Ferrol and to Egypt in 1800 and 1801 . In Egypt his regiment formed part of Major - general Cradock ' s brigade , and distinguished itself in the battles of 8 , 13 , and 21 March , and in the investment of Alexandria . On leaving Egypt , Colville , who had there established his reputation as a good regimental officer , took his regiment to Gibraltar , where he remained until 1805 , in which year he was promoted to colonel . After a short period in England he went with his regiment to Bermuda in 1808 , and in 1809 he was made a brigadier - general and commanded the 2nd brigade of Prevost ' s division in the capture of Martinique in that year . On 25 July 1810 Colville was promoted major - general and at once applied for a command in the Peninsula . In October 1810 he took over the command of the 1st brigade of the 3rd division , which was under the command of Thomas Picton . It was now that he had his great opportunity , and he soon became not only Picton ' s trusted lieutenant , but one of Wellington ' s favourite brigadiers . He commanded his brigade in the pursuit after Massena , and in the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro , shared the superintendence of the trenches with Major - general Hamilton at the second siege of Badajoz , commanded the infantry in the affair at El Bodon on 25 September 1811 , and the 4th division in the place of Major - general Cole in the successful siege of Ciudad Rodrigo . He shared the superintendence of the trenches in the third and last siege of Badajoz with Generals Bowes and Kempt , and commanded the 4th division in the storming of the Trinidad bastion , where he was shot through the left thigh and lost a finger of his right hand . Colville had to go to England for his cure , and thus missed the battle of Salamanca , but returned to the Peninsula in October 1812 and commanded the 3rd division in winter quarters until superseded by the arrival of General Picton . He commanded his brigade only at the battle of Vittoria , where he was slightly wounded , but was specially appointed by Lord Wellington to the temporary command of the 6th division from August to November 1813 , when he reverted to the 3rd division , which he commanded at the battles of the Nivelle and the Nive . He was again superseded by the arrival of Sir Thomas Picton , but in February 1814 Lord Wellington appointed him permanently to the 5th division in the place , of Sir James Leith . With it he served under Sir John Hope in the siege of Bayonne , and it was Colville who superintended the final embarkation at Passages of the last English troops left in France . Colville ' s services were well rewarded ; he received a cross with one clasp ; he was made a K . C . B . in January and a G . C . B . in March 1815 ; he was appointed colonel of the 94th regiment in April 1815 ; and when the return of Napoleon from Elba made it necessary for a British army to be sent to the continent , he was made a local lieutenant - general in the Netherlands at Wellington ' s special request , and took command of the 4th division there . Colville ' s division was posted on the extreme right of the British division at Halle during the Battle of Waterloo . To compensate him for not being more actively engaged there , Wellington gave him the duty of storming Cambrai , the only French fortress which did not immediately surrender . He succeeded with the loss of only thirty men killed and wounded . Colville did not again see active service . He was promoted lieutenant - general in 1819 , and was commander - in - chief of the Bombay Army from 1819 to 1825 . From 17 June 1828 to 3 February 1833 , Colville was 3rd Governor of Mauritius when the population of 100 , 000 ( two thirds in slavery ) were in semi revolt against the crown . In 1829 he described the " mentalité esclavagiste " of the island ' s inhabitants , who were extremely hostile to any reforms of slaves ' working conditions . In 1830 he reported that there was " a great deal of bad feeling against His Majesty ’ s Government continues to prevail and shew itself here … there is an almost total cessation in the payment of taxes . . . " Colville was promoted to general on 10 January 1837 , and died on 27 March 1843 at Rosslyn House , Hampstead . Family . In 1818 Colville Jane , eldest daughter of William Mure of Caldwell , and his eldest son succeeded as 11th Lord Colville of Culross . Legacy . There is a decorative bush , a member of the legume family which is called Colvillea racemosa in his honour , in fact the genus is called Colvillea In his novel " Les Misérables " Victor Hugo credits Colville ( or Maitland ) with asking for the surrender of the Imperial Guard and receiving General Cambronne ' s reply of " " Merde " " . References .