General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Sir Robert Brownrigg, 1st Baronet, GCB (8 February 1758 – 27 April 1833) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

-born

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

statesman and soldier. He brought the last part of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

under British rule.

Early career

Brownrigg was commissioned as an

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

in 1775. After service with the

9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

, he was appointed Military Secretary to the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

in 1795, and accompanied him to

The Helder Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO fe ...

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

in 1799. In 1803 he was appointed

Quartermaster-General to the Forces The Quartermaster-General to the Forces (QMG) is a senior general in the British Army. The post has become symbolic: the Ministry of Defence organisation charts since 2011 have not used the term "Quartermaster-General to the Forces"; they simply ...

. In 1805 he was made Colonel of the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment.

Walcheren campaign

July 1809, he joined the expedition to the Schelt. Brownrigg served as chief-of-staff to the commander

Lord Chatham William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, (15 November 170811 May 1778) was a British statesman of the Whig group who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Historians call him Chatham or William Pitt the Elder to distinguish ...

during the aborted operation to seize

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

that stalled on

Walcheren Walcheren () is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Eastern Scheldt in the north and the Western Scheldt in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two ...

island. On Chatham's instructions he drew up a memorandum assessing the situation for a

council of war A council of war is a term in military science that describes a meeting held to decide on a course of action, usually in the midst of a battle. Under normal circumstances, decisions are made by a commanding officer, optionally communicated ...

at which it was decided to abandon the attempt against Antwerp.Reiter p.157-58

Governor of Ceylon

He left his post as Quartermaster-General to the Forces in 1811, and then, in 1813, he was appointed

Governor of Ceylon {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The Governor of Ceylon can refer to historical vice-regal representatives of three colonial powers: Portuguese Ceylon * List of Captains of Portuguese Ceylon (1518–1551) * List of Captain-majors of Portuguese ...

. In 1815, he acquired the

Kingdom of Kandy The Kingdom of Kandy was a monarchy on the Sri Lanka, island of Sri Lanka, located in the central and eastern portion of the island. It was founded in the late 15th century and endured until the early 19th century. Initially a client kingdom ...

through an agreement with the help of defecting ministers of the Kandyan King, in the central region of the island, and annexed it to the British crown. The treaty was historically known as "

Kandyan Convention The Kandyan Convention ( Sinhala: උඩරට ගිවිසුම ''Udarata Giwisuma'') was a treaty signed on 2 March 1815 between the British Governor of Ceylon Sir Robert Brownrigg and the chiefs of the Kandyan Kingdom, British Ceylon (no ...

". In recognition of his achievement, Brownrigg was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1816. Brownrigg fought the

Great Rebellion of 1817–18 Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great ...

and managed to defeat that, aided by reinforcements from India. He attained the rank of full

in 1819 and left Ceylon the following year. The gilded bronze ancient

Statue of Tara The Statue of Tara is a gilt-bronze sculpture of Tara that dates from the 7th-8th century AD in Sri Lanka. Some argue it was looted from the last King of Kandy when the British annexed Kandy in the early nineteenth century, it was given to th ...

was reputedly found on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. It was acquired by Brownrigg, who later donated it to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

when he was living near

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

in 1830.figure
Collection Online, British Museum, retrieved 9 December 2013 This account however is rejected by the authorities in Sri Lanka who believe that Brownrigg took the statue from the last King of Kandy when the British annexed

Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...

. Brownrigg died near

in 1833.

Family

In 1789, Brownrigg married Elizabeth Catharine Lewis and together they went on to have six sons and a daughter. Then in 1810 he married Sophia Bissett.

Legacy

In 2011, President

Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...

initiated, at the country's Parliament, a formal revocation of Robert Brownrigg's Gazette Notification - under which participants of the

had been condemned as "traitors" and their properties confiscated. Brownrigg's Gazette Notification was declared null and void, and all those he branded as "traitors" were declared to be

National Heroes of Sri Lanka National Hero is a status an individual can receive in Sri Lanka for those who are considered to have played a major role in fighting for the freedom of the country. The status is conferred by the President of Sri Lanka. The recipients of the aw ...

. A National Declaration was awarded on their behalf to their descendants on Republic Day of Sri Lanka, 22 May.

References

Sources

* Reiter, Jacqueline. ''The Late Lord: The Life of John Pitt–2nd Earl of Chatham''. Casemate Publishers, 2017. * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Brownrigg, Robert 1758 births 1833 deaths Royal Norfolk Regiment officers British Army generals British Army commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Governors of British Ceylon People of the Kingdom of Kandy General Officers Commanding, Ceylon 19th-century British military personnel Irish soldiers in the British Army People from County Wicklow