Major-General Oliver De Lancey (September 17, 1718 – October 27, 1785) was a merchant and

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British C ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

and

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' deri ...

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 ...

. His surname is also sometimes written as de Lancey or Delancey.

Career

The son of Etienne Delancey and Anne Van Cortland, De Lancey was born on September 17, 1718, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the U ...

. The De Lancey family was of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

descent.History of Huguenot emigration to America, 1885, Charles Washington Baird From 1754 to 1757, De Lancey served as a New York alderman for the Out Ward and was a member of the New York assembly from New York County from 1756 to 1761. During the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

, he was selected by the New York Assembly, with the support of his brother James, then acting Governor, to provide provisions for New York provincial units. During the war, De Lancey commanded the New York Provincial Militia, 1755–1763, and commanded a provincial detachment in the Ticonderoga campaign of 1758. In 1766, De Lancey was one of the judges in the Pendergast case, in which the alleged leader of the

Dutchess County Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later or ...

land rebels was convicted and sentenced to death. De Lancey was a member of the provincial executive council from 1760 until the

. In 1768, he allied himself with Isaac Sears and the

Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...

. De Lancey spoke out against the

Boston Port Act The Boston Port Act, also called the Trade Act 1774, was an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which became law on March 31, 1774, and took effect on June 1, 1774. It was one of five measures (variously called the ''Intole ...

of 1774 but did not support nonimportation. He was one of the persons responsible for the creation of the Committee of Fifty. In 1773, he was appointed colonel in chief of the Southern Military District. During the war, De Lancey was a senior officer in the

irregular military Irregular military is any non-standard military component that is distinct from a country's national armed forces. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military org ...

hierarchy. He joined

Sir William Howe William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB PC (10 August 172912 July 1814) was a British Army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British land forces in the Colonies during the American War of Independence. Howe was one of three brot ...

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

in 1776, and he and his brother raised and equipped the three battalions of DeLancey's Brigade, consisting of fifteen hundred Loyalist volunteers from the

. He served as the brigade's commanding officer on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

. His property was plundered by Patriots in November 1777 and confiscated in October 1779. De Lancey left New York for England in 1783 and died on October 27, 1785, in

Beverley Beverley is a market and minster town and a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre and north-west of City of Hull. The town is known fo ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. He was buried in

Beverley Minster Beverley Minster, otherwise known as the Parish Church of Saint John and Saint Martin, in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, is a parish church in the Church of England. It is one of the largest parish churches in the UK, larger than one-thi ...

, where his grave and memorial can be visited.

Family

In the fall of 1742, Oliver De Lancey secretly married Phila Franks, the colonial-born daughter of prominent and successful London-born, New York

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

Jewish immigrants. For six months, they kept the match secret, but in the spring of 1743, Phila announced the union and went to live with her husband. The letters of Abigail Franks, Phila's mother, to her son Naphtali in England speak of her sense of betrayal and her pain, and she never spoke to Phila again. Phila's father, on the other hand, accepted the marriage. Phila and Oliver de Lancey had at least two sons and two daughters: *

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

(1748–1798) became clerk of the city and county of Albany in 1765,

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

of the 1st New Jersey Loyal Volunteers in 1782, afterwards Chief Justice of the Bahamas, and in 1796

Governor of Tobago This article lists governors of Tobago. Governors of Tobago have been referred to by the formal titles of "Governor" and "Lieutenant-Governor". For governors of the united Trinidad and Tobago after 1889 see List of Governors of Trinidad and Tobago ...

. He married Cornelia, daughter of the Rev. H. Barclay of

Trinity Church, New York Trinity Church is a historic parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York, at the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Known for its history, location, architecture and en ...

. They had several children, including

William Howe De Lancey Colonel Sir William Howe De Lancey (1778 – 26 June 1815) was an officer in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. He died of wounds he received at the Battle of Waterloo. Early life De Lancey's paternal ancestors were Huguenots ...

, a British staff officer mortally wounded at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armies of the Sevent ...

. * Oliver (''ca.'' 1749–1822) became a general in the

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 Gurkha ...

, and who also had a son called Oliver (1803–1837), who served as a British Army officer and was killed in action while fighting for the

British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in n ...

during the

First Carlist War The First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833 to 1840, the first of three Carlist Wars. It was fought between two factions over the succession to the throne and the nature of the Spanish monarchy: the conservative and devolutionist ...

. *Philadelphia (Phila) de Lancy (1758-1785) married Stephen Payne-Gallwey, son of the Governor and Chief Justice of St Kitts, Leeward Islands, in 1774, and they settled in West Tofts, Norfolk, England. *Susanna De Lancey married William Draper De Lancey's nephew James served in

De Lancey's Brigade De Lancey's Brigade, also known as De Lancey's Volunteers, De Lancey's Corps, De Lancey's Provincial Corps, De Lancey's Refugees, and the "Cowboys" or "Cow-boys", was a Loyalist British provincial military unit, raised for service during the Ame ...

Footnotes

References

* * *

External links

The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeLancey, Oliver Sr 1718 births 1785 deaths British Army major generals British Army personnel of the American Revolutionary War Huguenot participants in the American Revolution Members of the New York Provincial Assembly Members of the New York General Assembly Loyalists in the American Revolution from New York (state) American slave owners Military personnel from New York City People of the Province of New York Burials in Yorkshire Schuyler family 18th-century American politicians De Lancey family

Career

Family

Footnotes

References

Further reading

External links