Sir Thomas Hislop, 1st Baronet, (5 July 1764 – 3 May 1843) was a senior

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

officer of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Serving exclusively in colonial campaigns, Hislop fought in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater ...

between 1796 and 1810 and subsequently in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, where he was a senior commander during the

Third Anglo-Maratha War The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the English East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha ter ...

. Although his ability as a general was praised, Hislop came under criticism in Parliament for his heavy reprisals against forces of the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...

, particularly at

Talnar Talnar ( fa, تلنار, also Romanized as Talnār; also known as Taknār and Tal Nāz) is a village in Chapakrud Rural District, Gil Khuran District, Juybar County, Mazandaran Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic ...

, where he ordered the execution of over 300 men. He was also known for financial profligacy, losing large sums of money investing unsuccessfully in the Americas. Despite these problems, Hislop was later made 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 14t ...

and a

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as ...

, serving in his retirement as an equerry to

Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, (Adolphus Frederick; 24 February 1774 – 8 July 1850) was the tenth child and seventh son of the British king George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He held the title of Duke of Cambridge from 18 ...

Life

Hislop was born in 1764, the third son of Lieutenant Colonel William Hislop of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

of the British Army. Like his two elder brothers, Hislop followed his father into the

, studying at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

before joining the 39th Regiment of Foot as an ensign in 1778. Both of his brothers would be killed in action fighting in

, James at the

Battle of Pollilur The Battle of Pollilur (a.k.a. Pullalur), also known as the Battle of Polilore or Battle of Perambakam, took place on 10 September 1780 at Pollilur near Conjeevaram, the city of Kanchipuram in present-day Tamil Nadu state, India, as part of the ...

in 1781 and William at

Cundapore Kundapur, also called Kundapura, is a coastal town situated in the Udupi district of the state of Karnataka, India. This town was known as Coondapoor while it was part of the erstwhile South Canara district (1862–1947) of the Madras Pres ...

in 1783. Thomas Hislop's first combat was during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, when his regiment served in the garrison during the

Great Siege of Gibraltar The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the War of the American Revolution. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants. The American war had en ...

. In 1783 at the end of the war, Hislop was promoted to lieutenant and purchased the rank of captain 1785, serving for a month with the 100th Regiment of Foot before returning to the 39th. In 1792 he left his regiment to become an aide to General David Dundas, with whom he participated in the invasion of Corsica at the start of the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

. At the capture of

San Fiorenzo Saint-Florent (; it, San Fiorenzo, ; co, San Fiurenzu, ) is a commune in Haute-Corse department on the island of Corsica, France. Originally a fishing port located in the gulf of the same name, pleasure boats have now largely taken the place o ...

he was sent to Britain with the despatches, promoted to major and made an aide to

Lord Amherst Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, (29 January 1717 – 3 August 1797) was a British Army officer and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the British Army. Amherst is credited as the architect of Britain's successful campaign ...

. In 1795 Hislop undertook a secret diplomatic mission to Germany at the request of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the ruler ...

and was subsequently promoted to lieutenant colonel in the 115th Regiment of Foot, returning to the 39th six months later. In 1796 his regiment was sent to the

, and Hislop participated in the capture of the Dutch colonies of

Demerara Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state fr ...

Berbice Berbice is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1792 a colony of the Dutch West India Company and between 1792 to 1815 a colony of the Dutch state. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom of Great Britain ...

, and Essequibo. After their capture, Hislop remained in the territory as military commander, raising a number of battalions of the

West India Regiment The West India Regiments (WIR) were infantry units of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. In 1888 the two West India Regiments then in existence were reduced t ...

. He moved to

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmo ...

as lieutenant governor in 1802 after the

Peace of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it s ...

. In 1806 as Spain was then at war with Britain, Hyslop agreed with admiral

Alexander Cochrane Admiral of the Blue Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane (born Alexander Forrester Cochrane; 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832) was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of admiral. He had previously captaine ...

to provide some support to general

Francisco de Miranda Sebastián Francisco de Miranda y Rodríguez de Espinoza (28 March 1750 – 14 July 1816), commonly known as Francisco de Miranda (), was a Venezuelan military leader and revolutionary. Although his own plans for the independence of the Spani ...

for a second attempt to invade

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in t ...

under Spanish rule. In the aftermath of the failed expedition, Miranda spent the next year in

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a munici ...

as host of Hyslop waiting for reinforcements that never came and return to London. In 1809, as British forces gathered for operations against the French

Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean Sea North Atlantic Ocean , coo ...

, Hislop joined them as a subordinate to Lieutenant-General George Beckwith and participated in the invasion of Martinique in February 1809 and the invasion of Guadeloupe in January 1810, commanding a division during the latter operation. He was promoted to major-general, and returned to Britain due to ill-health in 1811. In 1812, Hislop was made commander-in-chief at

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

as a lieutenant general and sailed to take up his position in the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

HMS ''Java''. On 29 December 1812, ''Java'' engaged USS ''Constitution'' and was captured, Hislop was made a prisoner. During the naval engagement, Hislop had remained on deck and participated in the fighting, and was commended for his service. He was released at Salvador in Brazil and returned to Britain. In late 1814, Hislop finally took up a post in India as Commander-in-Chief of the

Madras Army The Madras Army was the army of the Presidency of Madras, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company until the Government ...

. He was rewarded for his services the same year with a

cy and investiture as a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as on ...

. In 1817, the

broke out and Hislop was given command of the main British force, numbering 5,500 men. Advancing on 10 November, Hislop defeated the 35,000 strong army of

Malhar Rao Holkar Malhar Rao Holkar (16 March 1693 – 20 May 1766) was a noble subedar of the Maratha Empire, in present-day India. He was one of the early officers along with Ranoji Scindia to help spread the Maratha rule to northern states and was given the ...

at the

Battle of Mahidpur The Battle of Mahidpur was fought during the Third Anglo-Maratha War between the Holkar faction of the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company at Mahidpur, a town in the Malwa region, on 21 December 1817. On 21 December 1817, t ...

on 21 December and then ensured the surrender of the Maratha border fortresses. One fort at

refused to surrender, and Hislop seized the fort and massacred all 300 of its defenders. With the campaign complete, Hislop's army was dissolved in March 1818. For his leadership in the campaign he was advanced to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. Hislop's actions at Talnar came under investigation at the urging of the Governor-General of India, Lord Moira, and as a result he was specifically excluded from the vote of thanks proposed in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

. He was also embroiled in a controversy surrounding the distribution of the valuables confiscated from the Marathas, known as the "Deccan Prize". Although Hislop claimed the rewards for distribution among his forces, an alternative claim for a force led by Lord Moira was held as equally valid even though they took no part in the fighting. Despite a political defence of his character by the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister o ...

, Hislop was removed from command in 1820. He remained in India however and in 1822 he married Emma Elliott of Madras. Later in life he served briefly in 1822 as Colonel in Chief of the Sutherland Highlanders following the death of

William Wemyss General William Wemyss of Wemyss (9 April 1760 – 4 February 1822) was a Scottish soldier in the British Army and Member of Parliament. Early life He was the son of the Hon. James Wemyss, third son of the 5th Earl of Wemyss, and his wife ...

then as honorary colonel for the

51st Regiment of Foot The 51st (2nd Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment of Foot was a British Army line infantry regiment, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 105th Regiment of Foot (Madras Light Infantry) to form the King's Own Yorkshire L ...

(1822–29) and the 48th Regiment of Foot (1829–43) and spent a number of years after his return to Britain as an equerry to

. He died at his home in

Charlton, Kent Charlton is an area of southeast London, England, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east of Greenwich and west of Woolwich, on the south bank of the River Thames, southeast of Charing Cross. An ancient parish in the county of Kent, it b ...

in 1843.Hislop, Sir Thomas
''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', H. M. Chichester, retrieved 4 May 2009 His daughter, Emma Eleanor Elizabeth, married William Hugh Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 3rd Earl of Minto, in 1844.

Notes

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hislop, Thomas 1764 births 1843 deaths British Army lieutenant generals Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath British Army personnel of the American Revolutionary War British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars 39th Regiment of Foot officers British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Maratha War Governors of British Trinidad British Army personnel of the War of 1812