Gerard Lake | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of Parliament forAylesbury | |
| In office 1790–1802 | |
| Preceded by | William Wrightson |
| Succeeded by | Robert Bent |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1744-07-27)27 July 1744 Harrow,Middlesex,Great Britain |
| Died | 20 February 1808(1808-02-20) (aged 63) London, England |
| Parent | John Gumley |
| Education | Eton College |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | .svg) Great Britain United Kingdom |
| Branch/service | British Army |
| Years of service | 1758–1808 |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars | American Revolutionary War French Revolutionary Wars Irish Rebellion of 1798 Second Anglo-Maratha War |
Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake (27 July 1744 – 20 February 1808) was aBritish general. He commanded British forces during theIrish Rebellion of 1798 and later served asCommander-in-Chief of the military inBritish India.
He was the son of Lancelot Charles Lake (d. 1751) ofHarrow-on-the-Hill and his wife Letitia Gumley, daughter ofJohn Gumley. He was educated atEton College.[1]
Lake entered the foot guards in 1758, becoming lieutenant (captain in the army) in 1762, captain (lieutenant-colonel) in 1776, major in 1784, and lieutenant colonel in 1792, by which time he was a general officer in the army. He served with his regiment in Germany between 1760 and 1762, and with a composite battalion in theBattle of Yorktown of 1781. After this he wasequerry to thePrince of Wales, afterwardsGeorge IV.[2] His younger brotherWarwick served as a groom of the bedchamber for the Prince, and later oversaw his stables ofracehorses.[citation needed]
In 1790, he became a major-general, and in 1793 was appointed to command the Guards Brigade in theDuke of York and Albany's army inFlanders during theFrench Revolutionary Wars. He was in command at the successfulBattle of Lincelles on 18 August 1793, and served on the continent (except for a short time when seriously ill) until April 1794. He later sold his lieutenant-colonelcy in the guards, and became colonel of the53rd Regiment of Foot and governor ofLimerick inIreland. In 1797, he was promoted to lieutenant-general.[2]
As lieutenant-colonel Lake went out with drafts to America in the spring of 1781, made the campaign in North Carolina underLord Cornwallis, and commanded the grenadiers of the guards and of the old 80th royal Edinburgh regiment in a sortie, underColonel Robert Abercromby, from the British lines at York Town, which inflicted heavy loss on the French and American besiegers, on 11 October. After the surrender of Cornwallis's force on 19 October 1781, Lake remained prisoner on parole until the end of the war.[3] Hugh Wodehouse Pearse reports that "Lake was one of the three field officers selected by lot to take charge of the troops in captivity, but, as he was anxious for private reasons to proceed to England, MajorGordon of the 76th [sic] [80th] Regiment generously volunteered to take his place. Major, then Lieut.-Colonel, Gordon died in captivity.[4]
In December 1796, he was appointed commander inUlster and issued a proclamation ordering the surrender of all arms by the civil population,[2] during which time he was 'untroubled by legal restraints or by his troops' violent actions'.[5] Historians have generally seen Lake'sDragooning of Ulster in 1797 as effective in disarming and crippling theSociety of United Irishmen in that province, although his effectiveness has been questioned.[6] Lake succeededSir Ralph Abercromby asCommander-in-Chief, Ireland in April 1798 and turned his attention to Leinster, where 'public floggings and torture of suspected rebels became widespread and added to the general atmosphere of terror'.[5] Rather than cowing the province into submission, 'his crude methods probably contributed to the outbreak ofinsurrection' in May 1798.[5] Lake continued to deal harshly with opposition, and issued orders to take no prisoners during the rebellion.[1]
In May, Lake commanded troops inCounty Kildare, and, after the unsuccessfulrebel attack on Naas on 24 May, he assistedGeneral Ralph Dundas in ensuring the rebel surrender after theBattle of Kilcullen, which Dundas arranged on humane terms. Another rebel force on the nearbyCurragh were also persuaded to surrender, but while this was being arranged by Lake the rebels were mistakenly attacked by separate government forces coming from the opposite direction, resulting in theGibbet Rath executions on 29 May. As a result, central Kildare remained quiet for the rest of 1798.[citation needed]
Lake then took overall command of a force of some 20,000 troops to crush theWexford rebels and defeated the main rebel army atVinegar Hill (nearEnniscorthy,County Wexford) on 21 June. His harsh treatment towards Irish rebels found bearing arms brought him into conflict withLord Cornwallis who was appointedLord Lieutenant of Ireland in June 1798 and instituted an amnesty act to encourage rebels to lay down their arms.[7]
Cornwallis sent Lake to oppose a French expedition of 1,000 troops which had landed atKillala Bay,County Mayo on 23 August. On 29 August, Lake arrived atCastlebar with a force of 1,700 (composed of mainly of militia, fencibles and yeomanry) and witnessed the rout of his troops under GeneralHely-Hutchinson (afterwards 2nd Earl of Donoughmore) at theBattle of Castlebar.[8] Lake failed to rally his largely inexperienced troops and was forced to retreat to Tuam; the speed of which (and abandonment of material, artillery and Lake's personal baggage) led the rout to become known as the 'Races of Castlebar'. Hely-Hutchinson shouldered much of the blame, but it was accepted that Lake's troops were inexperienced and a head-on battle with the seasoned French force was probably to be avoided.[9] However, rumours also abounded that Lake had been drinking heavily the night before the battle and was only woken with difficulty while the French were already attacking.[5]
He defeated the French at theBattle of Ballinamuck on 8 September.[10]
In 1799, Lake returned to England, and soon afterwards travelled toBritish India where he was appointedCommander-in-Chief. He took up his duties atCalcutta in July 1801, and applied himself to the improvement of theEast India Company army, especially in the direction of making all arms, infantry, cavalry and artillery, more mobile and more manageable. In 1802 he was made a full general.[2]
On the outbreak theSecond Anglo-Maratha War in 1803 General Lake took the field againstDaulat Scindia, and within two months defeated theMarathas at Kol (now calledAligarh), after stormingAligarh Fort during theBattle of Ally Ghur (1 September 1803). He then tookDelhi (11 September) andAgra (10 October), and won a victory at theBattle of Laswari (1 November), where the power of Scindia was completely broken with the loss of 31 disciplined battalions, trained and officered by Frenchmen, and 426 pieces of ordnance. This defeat, followed a few days later by Major-GeneralArthur Wellesley's victory at theBattle of Argaon, compelled Scindia to come to terms, and a treaty was signed in December 1803.[2]
Operations continued againstYashwantrao Holkar, who, on 17 November 1804, defeated Lake at theBattle of Farrukhabad. Lake was now very frustrated by theJats and Yashwantrao Holker atBharatpur which held out against five assaults early in 1805.[11] Cornwallis succeededLord Wellesley asGovernor-General of India in July of that year – superseding Lake at the same time as commander-in-chief – and determined to put an end to the war. Cornwallis, however, died in October of the same year and Lake pursued Holkar into thePunjab.[12] However, after seeing the stronger position of Holkar and his effort to gather all Indian princes under one flag against the British, the British East India Company signed a peace treaty with Holkar which returned to him all his territory and promised no further interference from the Company.[citation needed]
Lord Wellesley in a despatch attributed much of the success of the war to Lake's matchless energy, ability and valour. For his services, Lake received the thanks ofParliament,[13] and, in September 1804, was rewarded by being created Baron Lake ofDelhi and Laswary and of Aston Clinton in theCounty ofBuckingham. From 1801 to 1805 Lake wasCommander-in-Chief, India, then again from 1805 to 1807 as his successorJohn Graves Simcoe had died before heading off to India. At the conclusion of the war he returned to England, and in 1807 he was createdViscount Lake of Delhi and Laswary and of Aston Clinton in the County of Buckingham.[citation needed]
One of his sons MajorGeorge Augustus Frederick Lake accompanied him in Ireland and then India, acting as his aide-de-camp and military secretary during the campaign: at one stage offering his mount when the elder Lake's horse had been shot from under him at an engagement near the village of Mohaulpoor. Minutes after seeing his father mounted Major Lake was seriously wounded in the presence of his father. Lake recovered from his wound and went on to command the 29th Regiment of Foot during the Peninsular Campaign. He was killed in action at theBattle of Roliça, Portugal on 17 August 1808.[14]
Lake pursued both a parliamentary and military career. He representedAylesbury in theBritish House of Commons from 1790 to 1802, and he also was brought into theIrish House of Commons by the government as member forArmagh Borough in 1799 to vote for theAct of Union.[13]
Lake was recorded as being an inveterate gambler who lost most of his family's fortune. He died in London on 20 February 1808 leaving his children with little or no inheritance. This was seen by many at court and the then prime minister theDuke of Portland, as a sad end for such a stalwart of Empire and his children. Portland made a special request to King George III to remedy the situation, particularly with respect to the unmarried Lake daughters.[15]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lake, Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 85–86.| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forAylesbury 1790–1801 With:Scrope Bernard | Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Parliament of Ireland | ||
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forArmagh Borough 1799–1801 With:Patrick Duigenan | Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Parliament of Great Britain | Member of Parliament forAylesbury 1801–1802 With:Scrope Bernard | Succeeded by |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by | Colonel of the53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot 1794–1796 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Colonel of the73rd (Highland) Regiment of Foot 1796–1800 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander-in-Chief, Ireland April 1798 – June 1798 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander-in-Chief, India 1801–1805 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander-in-Chief, India 1805–1807 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Plymouth 1807–1808 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Viscount Lake 1807–1808 | Succeeded by |
| Baron Lake 1804–1808 | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
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