William Dorrington | |
|---|---|
 Dodington Hall,Somerset, ancestral home of the Dodington or Dorrington family; heraldic evidence suggests William Dorrington was a member[1] | |
| Born | c. 1644 England |
| Died | 11 December 1718[2] Paris,France |
| Allegiance |  England Ireland France |
| Service | Infantry |
| Years of service | c.1675-1718 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Unit | Royal Irish Regiment of Foot Guards |
| Battles / wars | Williamite War in Ireland: |
William Dorrington (c. 1644–1718) was an English army officer. Contemporary sources often spell his surname as "Dorington", or "Dodington".
ARoman Catholic in a period when Catholics often faced restrictions on military service in England, he is best known for his service in theJacobite cause ofJames II. Particularly associated with theRoyal Irish Regiment of Foot Guards, he rose to the rank ofMajor General in James'sIrish Army, fighting in theWilliamite War.
Known as a capable soldier, in his later career he held a senior rank in the French army and received the Earldom of Macclesfield in theJacobite Peerage. His regiment of Foot Guards later became theRegiment Roth of theIrish Brigade.
Little is known of Dorrington's background, but his family arms of threebugle hornsargent, as later recorded in France, were identical to those of the Dodington or Dorington families ofSomerset andMere, Wiltshire;[1] the Somerset family had been notable Royalist supporters in theEnglish Civil War.[3]
From 1675 Dorrington gained experience as a Captain in a regiment of Anglo-Irish volunteers under the command of theDuke of Monmouth, serving with the French Army ofLouis XIV in theirwar against the Dutch. From 1678 until the mid 1680s he served as an officer of theEnglish Army in peacetime duties.[4]
Dorrington was rapidly promoted after James's accession.Clarendon, theLord Lieutenant of Ireland, noted that Dorrington was the "youngest major in the army";[5] by 1685 he had transferred to theIrish Army, when he was recorded as a major in Thomas Fairfax's regiment.[6] In 1686 he becameLieutenant Colonel of the Royal Irish Regiment of Foot Guards, a prestige unit formally constituted in April 1662.[7]
He was closely involved in the purge of Protestant officers that began shortly after 1685 and accelerated from 1687 under Clarendon's replacement theEarl of Tyrconnell. Dorrington was accused of going "too fast" in his haste to reform his regiment with fresh Catholic personnel;[8] Clarendon remonstrated with him for beating up for recruits at St John's Well nearDublin, a favoured Catholic shrine.[9]
Dorrington remained loyal to James during theGlorious Revolution of 1688, when a majority of senior officers in England defected to the invading force ofWilliam of Orange. The Irish Army under Tyrconnell prepared to hold Ireland for James, and were joined by Jacobite loyalists who had fled from England and Scotland.
Dorrington was formally appointed as colonel of the Foot Guards, succeeding the ProtestantDuke of Ormonde, and eventually became one of sixMajor-Generals of the Jacobite army. His military reputation was high enough that when he was sent to theSiege of Derry, his arrival was "eagerly communicated" to the defenders "for the purpose of intimidation".[10] He was wounded at Derry, though not seriously, and was present at theBattle of the Boyne the following year.[11]
After the Jacobite victory at theSiege of Limerick he was appointed by Tyrconnell as Governor of the city.[12] Success at Limerick led some Jacobites to believe the war could still be won and along withPatrick Sarsfield, Dorrington was one of the main figures in the "War Party", which opposed Tyrconnell's efforts to reach a peace settlement with William.
The 1691 campaign opened with a brief but bloodysiege at Athlone; while the Williamite army took the town, the main Jacobite force fell back along the Galway road. The two armies met atAughrim, County Galway on 12 July; Dorrington andJohn Hamilton commanded the two divisions of the Jacobite infantry. TheBattle of Aughrim ended with the Jacobite forces shattered, Hamilton fatally wounded, and Dorrington captured. While the Williamite commander,Ginkel, had given word to Dorrington that the captives would be treated as prisoners of war, he and other general officers were instead taken to theTower of London as prisoners of state.[13]
TheEarl of Ailesbury recorded that Dorrington, a "good friend", "was totally forgotten in France, and became most unhappy".[14] In late 1693 he submitted a petition complaining about his treatment, having been denied rights usually given to prisoners of war;Lucas, the governor of the Tower, was later reprimanded for his "ill-usage" of Dorrington. In February 1694 he successfully escaped from the Tower in disguise aided by a group of Jacobite sympathising "gentlewomen".[14] TheLondon Gazette advertised a reward of £300 for his capture, describing him as a "a tall spare Man, aged near 50 or thereabouts, thin Visaged, having a Welt near the lower part of his Right Cheek by a Shot".[15]
On his return to France he resumed command of the Foot Guards, now serving in French exile under the terms of theTreaty of Limerick.
Dorrington subsequently served inFlanders during theWar of the Grand Alliance; he was createdbrigadier bybrevet on 28 April 1694. Following thePeace of Ryswick which ended the war, the Foot Guards were amalgamated into theIrish Brigade of the French Army as Dorrington's Regiment.[16]
He was appointed Major General in 1702. During theWar of the Spanish Succession he served underVillars in Germany, and was present atBlenheim in 1704. Promoted toLieutenant General later the same year, he saw action at theBattle of Ramillies in 1706 and atMalplaquet in 1709. He accompanied James's son,James Frances Edward, to Scotland in both the failed1708 landing attempt and theJacobite rising of 1715.
In 1716 Dorrington was madeEarl of Macclesfield in theJacobite Peerage, a title that was not recognized in Britain. He died in Paris in 1718.[17] Descendants of his nephew, Peter Dorrington, continued in France until well into the 19th century.