General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Sir George Augustus Wetherall, (1788 – 8 April 1868) was a senior

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer.

Military career

As the son of General Sir Frederick Wetherall, George Augustus Wetherall was educated in the senior department of the

Royal Military College Royal Military College may refer to: ;Australia * Royal Military College, Duntroon, Campbell, Australian Capital Territory ;Canada * Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario * Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Saint-Jean, Quebec ;Indi ...

, and entered the army in 1803.Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
/ref> He served as brigade-major at the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

in 1807, took part in the conquest of Java as aide-de-camp to his father, from 1822 till 1825 was military secretary to the commander-in-chief of

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, and in 1826 was appointed deputy judge-advocate-general in India. General Wetherall is most famous for his services during the rebellion in Canada of 1837/38 during which he was the Commander of the Royals' 2nd battalion in the Battle of Saint-Charles, a battle part of the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (), commonly referred to as the Patriots' Rebellion () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now southern Quebec). Together wit ...

fought on 25 November 1837 between Great Britain and Lower Canada Patriote rebels. After the victory, he and his troops unearthed the Colonne de la liberté, a column erected in Saint-Charles by the Patriotes for the

Assembly of the Six Counties The Assembly of the Six Counties () was an assembly of Patriote leaders and approximately 6,000 followers held in Saint-Charles, Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) on October 23 and October 23, 1837, despite the June 15 Proclamation of the g ...

, and brought it back as a

war trophy __NOTOC__ A war trophy is an item taken during warfare by an invading force. Common war trophies include flags, weapons, vehicles, and art. History In ancient Greece and ancient Rome, military victories were commemorated with a display of capt ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, along with a number of prisoners. For his services, Wetherall was made a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregi ...

. He was deputy adjutant-general in Canada from 1843 to 1850. In 1854 he was made

Adjutant-General to the Forces The Adjutant-General to the Forces, commonly just referred to as the Adjutant-General (AG), was for just over 250 years one of the most senior officers in the British Army. The AG was latterly responsible for developing the Army's personnel polic ...

, which post he held until 1860 when he took command of the Northern District of England. At the expiration of his services in 1865 he was appointed

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

. He became colonel of the 84th regiment in 1854, was knighted in 1856, made a lieutenant general in 1857, and appointed 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 King George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior military officers or senior civil servants, and the monarch awards it on the advice of His ...

in 1865. In 1860 he was in overall charge of the Royal Volunteer Review in

Holyrood Park Holyrood Park (also called the King's Park or Queen's Park depending on the reigning monarch's gender) is a royal park in central Edinburgh, Scotland about to the east of Edinburgh Castle. It is open to the public. It has an array of hills, lo ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

for

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. The 21,000 men on parade stood before a grandstamd holding 3000 spectators plus upward of 200,000 spectators on the northern slope of

Arthur's Seat Arthur's Seat (, ) is an ancient extinct volcano that is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland, which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bol ...

Legacy

The Memorials to Governors in the Chapel of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst includes: ''In Memory of General Sir George Augustus Wetherall, G.C.B., K.H., Colonel of the 84th Foot. Died 8th April, 1868, aged 80 years. He was Governor of this College from 1866 to 1868.''

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wetherall, George 1788 births 1868 deaths Military personnel from Hampshire British Army generals Governors of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Lower Canada Rebellion people Royal Scots officers 19th-century British Army personnel British military personnel in colonial India