Sir Thomas Maitland | |
|---|---|
_-_Portrait_of_Sir_Thomas_Maitland_(1760-1824).jpg) Portrait of Sir Thomas Maitland byJohn Hoppner, circa 1800 | |
| Governor of British Ceylon | |
| In office 19 July 1805 – 19 March 1811 | |
| Governor | George III |
| Preceded by | Frederick North |
| Succeeded by | John Wilson |
| General Officer Commanding, Ceylon | |
| In office 1805–? | |
| Preceded by | David Douglas Wemyss |
| Succeeded by | John Wilson |
| Governor of Malta | |
| In office 23 July 1813 – 17 January 1824 | |
| Preceded by | Hildebrand Oakes (asCivil Commissioner) |
| Succeeded by | Francis Rawdon-Hastings |
| Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands | |
| In office 1816–1823 | |
| Preceded by | James Campbell of Inverneill |
| Succeeded by | Frederick Adam |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 10 March 1760 |
| Died | 17 January 1824(1824-01-17) (aged 63) |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch/service | British Army |
| Rank | Lieutenant-General |
| Unit | 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot |
| Commands | General Officer Commanding, Ceylon |
| Battles/wars | |
Lieutenant-GeneralSir Thomas Maitland (10 March 1760 – 17 January 1824) was aBritish Army officer, politician and colonial administrator. He also served as a Member of Parliament forHaddington from 1790 to 1796, 1802–06 and 1812–13. He was made aPrivy Councillor on 23 November 1803. He was the second surviving son ofJames Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale, and the younger brother ofJames Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale. Maitland never married.
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Maitland was commissioned into the Edinburgh Light Horse, shortly after his birth, but did not take up his commission until he joined the78th (Highland) Regiment of Foot (Seaforth Highland Regiment) as acaptain in 1778. He transferred to the62nd Foot as amajor in 1790. He was promotedlieutenant-colonel in 1794 andcolonel andbrigadier-general in 1798.
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In 1797, Maitland landed inSaint-Domingue, under orders to capture theFrench colony. Maitland realised that his forces were quickly dying in droves due toyellow fever, and he began to negotiate a retreat withToussaint Louverture, a Black general in French service.[citation needed]
Elkins and McKitrick[1] write:
It was in fact Maitland and not the War Ministry who had determined that Britain's only sensible choice, rather than try to maintain any kind of presence atJérémie andMôle-Saint-Nicolas, was to deal directly with Louverture and negotiate a total evacuation of the island. Accordingly he and the black general concluded a secret agreement on August 31, 1798. Great Britain would desist from any further attack on St. Domingue and any interference with its internal affairs; Louverture made a similar promise with regard to Jamaica; and Maitland would see that provisions were allowed to reach the ports of St. Domingue without interference from British cruisers.
In May 1799, Maitland returned to Saint-Domingue to negotiate an extension of the agreement with Louverture. On 13 June, in the presence ofEdward Stevens, the representative of theUnited States on the island, Maitland and Louverture signed the Maitland Convention, which stipulated that the ports ofLe Cap andPort-Républicain would be opened to Anglo-American shipping.[2]
In 1800 he devised theMaitland Plan - a six point plan to freeSouth America from Spanish rule. This later became a blueprint forJosé de San Martín, the prime leader of the southern part of South America'sstruggle for independence, when he was introduced to the plan in 1811 byFrancisco De Miranda.
Maitland served as Governor ofCeylon (Sri Lanka) during 1805 to 1811.While at Ceylon, Maitland was attracted to a place at "Galkissa" (Mount Lavinia) and decided to construct his palace there.During this time, Maitland fell in love with a mixed race dancing-girl named Lovina, who had been born toPortuguese andSinhalese parents. A folktale sometimes repeated states that during the construction of the palace, Maitland gave instructions for the construction of a secret tunnel to Lovina's house, which was located close to the governor's palace. One end of the tunnel was inside the well of Lovina's house and the other end was in a wine cellar inside the governor's palace. When the governor came to reside there, he would often use the tunnel to meet Lovina.[3][4] The Sinhalese village that surrounded the Governor's mansion developed into a modern city named "Galkissa". Later the city was renamed "Mount Lavinia" in honour of Lovina. In 1920 the tunnel was sealed up. The bicentenary celebration of theMount Lavinia Hotel was held in 2005. Some of Sir Thomas Maitland's relatives living in the UK attended the ceremony.[5] Two roads in central Colombo in modern-day Sri Lanka, are named for him, Maitland Crescent and Maitland Place.[6]
In early 1812,The 1st Earl of Wellington began the campaign that resulted in his victory at theBattle of Salamanca on 22 July. To preventMarshalLouis Gabriel Suchet from sending French reinforcements from the east coast of Spain, Wellington requested thatLord William Bentinck launch a diversionary operation using the British garrison ofSicily. At first Bentinck agreed to send 10,000 of his soldiers, but in March he reversed himself. After much persuasion, he allowed the operation to go forward and on 7 June he put 8,000 men aboard naval transports under the command of Maitland. The fickle Bentinck changed his mind again on 9 June, stopping the expedition. At last on 28 June Maitland sailed forMenorca. The fleet first picked up 6,000 Spanish troops at Menorca and landed on 31 July atPalamós, 65 miles (105 km) northeast ofBarcelona. He wisely decided that Barcelona was too strong to attack, but he also refused to try to capture weakly heldTarragona.[7] Maitland soon received news thatJoseph O'Donnell's Army of Murcia had been routed at theBattle of Castalla on 21 July. Without the support of O'Donnell, Maitland decided he could not accomplish anything. He re-embarked his expeditionary force and sailed toAlicante instead, joining his troops with the garrison to form an army of 15,000 men.[8] With the disaster at Salamanca, the French were forced to evacuate bothMadrid in central Spain andAndalusia in the south. Their combined forces joined Suchet in theprovince of Valencia.[9] About 80,000 French soldiers, Maitland declined to move from Alicante.[8] Maitland asked to be relieved in September 1812 due to illness.[10]
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Maitland becameLieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth and General Officer CommandingSouth-West District in May 1813[11] and was then appointed asGovernor of Malta on 23 July, when the island became acrown colony instead of aprotectorate. Theplague hadbroken out in Malta in March 1813 and the disease began to spread especially inValletta and theGrand Harbour area. Maitland arrived on the island on 3 October 1813 and took his oath of office on 5 October.[12] Once in post, he enforced stricter quarantine measures. The plague spread to Gozo by the following January, but the islands were free of the disease by March 1814. Overall, 4486 people were killed which amounted to 4% of the total population. It is thought that the outbreak would have been worse without Maitland's strict actions.
After the eradication of the plague, Maitland made several reforms. He removed British troops fromLampedusa on 25 September 1814, ending thedispute that had started in 1800.[13] On Malta, he was autocratic and he refused to form an advisory council made up of Maltese representatives, and so he was informally known as "King Tom". He formed theMalta Police Force in 1814, while the local Italian-speakingUniversità was dissolved in 1819. Various reforms were undertaken in taxation and the law courts as well. Maitland remained Governor until his death fromapoplexy on 17 January 1824.[14] He was attended on his death-bed by doctors Robert Grieves, Alexander Broadfoot andJohn Hennen.[15]
While he was Governor of Malta, Maitland also served asLord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands during 1815 to 1823, while the islands were a British protectorate. The seat of administration was atCorfu, where he was represented bySir Frederick Hankey, his private secretary. The neoclassicalMaitland Monument was built there in his honour in 1821.[16]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Governor of Ceylon 1805–1811 | Succeeded by John Wilson,acting |
| Preceded by Sir Hildebrand Oakes (Civil Commissioner) | Governor of Malta 1813–1824 | Succeeded by |
| New title | Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands 1815–1823 | Succeeded by |
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for theHaddington Burghs 1790–1796 | Succeeded by |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for theHaddington Burghs 1802–1805 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for theHaddington Burghs 1812–1813 | Succeeded by |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by | GOC South-West District May 1813 – July 1813 | Succeeded by |
| New regiment | Colonel of the10th West India Regiment 1798–1802 | Regiment disbanded |
| Colonel of the5th Garrison Battalion 1803–1805 | ||
| Colonel of the3rd Garrison Battalion 1805–1807 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | General Officer Commanding, Ceylon 1805–? | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Colonel of the4th West India Regiment 1807–1811 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Colonel of the10th Regiment of Foot 1811–1824 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| New title | Grand Master of the Order of St Michael and St George 1818–1824 | Succeeded by |
Civil commissioners (1799–1813) | |
|---|---|
Governors (1813–1964).svg) | |
Governors-general (1964–1974).svg) | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
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