|
Major General Andrew Hay
(1762 – 14 April 1814) was a British Army officer who served in the American
Revolutionary, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He was mortally
wounded at the siege of Bayonne on 14 April 1814.
Andrew Hay enlisted as an ensign in the 1st regiment of foot, on 6 December
1779. He served in the American Revolutionary War and was promoted to
lieutenant on 21 July 1781. He transferred to the 88th Foot as captain on 24
January 1783 but when the regiment was disbanded after the war, Hay returned
to the 1st Foot, maintaining the rank of captain, and inheriting seniority
on 17 April 1784.
From 1787 to December 1795, a period which included the beginning of the
French Revolutionary War, Hay was on half-pay, listed as a captain. He was
promoted to major on 1 September 1794 but remained without a regiment until
the 93rd Foot was raised, which he joined on 9 December 1795 and served with
in the West Indies, until it was disbanded in 1797.
Hay became a colonel in the Banffshire Fencibles on 29 December 1798, a
regiment mainly drawn from Hay's family estate in Banffshire, Scotland.
Fencibles were British Army units raised for defence against the threat of
invasion during times of war. They were usually temporary units, composed of
local volunteers but commanded by regular army officers, and their role was
usually, but not always, confined to home defence and patrol duties. While
his regiment was serving in the Channel Islands, in 1801, Hay sold his home
in Banffshire and moved to Fordingbridge in Hampshire. The Banffshire
Fencibles were broken up in 1802 when a short-lived peace was brought about
by the Treaty of Amiens.
When war with France broke out again, in May 1803, Hay was given command of
the 16th Battalion of the Army of Reserve. Hay's unit transferred to the
regular army on 1 December 1804 as 2nd Battalion in the Highland regiment,
the 72nd Foot, when he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. Just over 4 years
later, on 19 March 1807, Hay was given command of the 3rd Battalion, 1st
Foot regiment serving in Ireland, but once the British Government had made
the decision to support the Spanish and Portuguese rebels against the
French, Hay and his regiment were shipped out to the Peninsula.
You can learn more about him on Wikipedia |
