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 Galbraith Lowry Cole (1 May 1772 – 4 October 1842) was a

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 and politician.

Early life

Cole was the second son of an Irish peer,

William Cole, 1st Earl of Enniskillen William Willoughby Cole, 1st Earl of Enniskillen (1 March 1736 – 22 May 1803), styled The Honourable from 1760 to 1767, then known as the Lord Mountflorence to 1776 and as the Viscount Enniskillen to 1789, was an Irish peer and politician. E ...

(1 March 1736 – 22 May 1803), and Anne Lowry-Corry (d. September 1802), the daughter of Galbraith Lowry-Corry of

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, and the sister of

Armar Lowry-Corry, 1st Earl Belmore Armar Lowry-Corry, 1st Earl Belmore (7 April 1740 – 2 February 1802) was an Irish nobleman and politician. Background He was born Armar Lowry, the first son of Galbraith Lowry (later Lowry-Corry) MP, of Ahenis, County Tyrone by his wife Sara ...

Army service

Cole was commissioned a

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

in 12th Dragoon Guards in 1787. He transferred to 5th Dragoon Guards as a lieutenant in 1791 and to 70th Foot as a captain in 1792, and served in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel in Ward’s late regiment of foot in 1794 and lieutenant-colonel in the late General Villette's corps in 1799, on full pay although these units had been disbanded. He was promoted to colonel in the Army in 1801 and served as brigadier-general in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

and commanded the 1st Brigade at the

Battle of Maida The Battle of Maida, fought on 4 July 1806 was a battle between the British expeditionary force and a French force outside the town of Maida in Calabria, Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. John Stuart led 5,236 British troops to victory over a ...

on 4 July 1806. In 1808 he was promoted to major-general. In 1809 he was appointed to the staff of the army serving in Spain and Portugal and granted the local rank of lieutenant-general in 1811. This rank was confirmed in the Army in 1813. He commanded the 4th Division in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

under

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, and was wounded at the

Battle of Albuera The Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) was a battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French armée du Midi (Army of the South) at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about sou ...

in which he played a decisive part. He was also wounded, much more seriously, at

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

. He was promoted to full general in 1830. For having served with distinction in the battles of Maida,

Albuera La Albuera is a village southeast of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. it had a population of c. 2,000 inhabitants. History It was scene of the Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) between Spanish, Portuguese and British troops under William Carr Beresf ...

Vitoria Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória ( ...

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

, Nivelle,

Orthez Orthez (; ; , ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, and region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies 40 km NW of Pau on the Southern railway to Bayonne. The town also encompasses the small village of Sai ...

and

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, he received the

Army Gold Cross The Army Gold Medal (1808–1814), also known as the Peninsular Gold Medal, with an accompanying Gold Cross, was a British campaign medal awarded in recognition of field and general officers' successful commands in campaigns, predominantly the P ...

with four clasps. In 1815 he became General Officer Commanding Northern District. He was appointed Colonel of the 103rd Foot in 1812, 70th Foot in 1814 and 34th Foot in 1816. He subsequently became Governor of Gravesend and Tilbury Fort. He was also colonel of the 27th Foot.

Member of Parliament

He was Member of Parliament in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

for the family seat of

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

from 1797 to 1800, and represented

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh (), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of alleged Laigin or ...

in the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

in 1803. He was appointed 2nd Governor of Mauritius from 12 June 1823 to 17 June 1828. He left in 1828 to take up the post of Governor of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

which position he filled until 1833. Cole was knighted in 1813, and was invested as a Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath on 2 January 1815. He is commemorated in

by a statue surmounting a column in Fort Hill Park, carried out by the Irish sculptor, Terence Farrell.

Family

Cole was married on 15 June 1815 to Lady Frances Harris (d. 1 November 1847), daughter of

James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury (21 April 1746 – 21 November 1820), was an English diplomat. Early life (1746–1768) Born at Salisbury, the son of James Harris, an MP and the author of ''Hermes'', and Elizabeth Clarke of Sandford, Som ...

, for whom

Malmesbury, South Africa Malmesbury is a town of approximately 36,000 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa, about 65 km north of Cape Town. The town is the largest in the Swartland (‘black land’) which took its name from the Dicerothamnus rhi ...

is named, and Harriet Mary (née Amyand), his wife. His late marriage was attributed by his family to the unhappy outcome of his romance with the future

Catherine Pakenham Catherine Sarah Dorothea Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington (' Pakenham; 14 January 1773 – 24 April 1831), known before her marriage as Kitty Pakenham, was the wife of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Early life Catherine Pakenham was ...

(later Duchess of Wellington) to whom he had been briefly engaged in 1802–3. Frances Cole played a prominent part in social philanthropy in the Cape and worked towards having

coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

children taught useful trades.

Colesberg Colesberg is a town with 17,354 inhabitants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, located on the main N1 road from Cape Town to Johannesburg. In a sheep-farming area spread over half-a-million hectares, greater Colesberg breeds ma ...

, a town in the Cape, is named after him, as is

Sir Lowry's Pass Sir Lowry's Pass is a mountain pass on the N2 national road in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It crosses the Hottentots Holland Mountains between Somerset West and the Elgin valley, on the main route between Cape Town and the G ...

near Cape Town. They had seven children: * Colonel Arthur Lowry Cole, Col. 17th Regiment, CB, Knight of the Medjidie (24 August 1817 – 30 March 1885) * William Willoughby Cole, Capt. 27th Regiment (17 November 1819 – 4 April 1863) * James Henry Cole (b. 15 December 1821) * Florence Mary Georgiana Cole (b. 4 June 1816) * Louisa Catherine Cole (16 August 1818 – 14 October 1878) * Frances Maria Frederica Cole (b. 9 April 1824) * Henrietta Anne Paulina Cole (b. 6 October 1826) His elder brother John Willoughby Cole married Lady Charlotte Paget, the daughter of Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge. His other siblings were: * The Hon. Rev. William Montgomery Cole (d. October 1804),

Dean of Waterford The Dean of Waterford in the United Dioceses of Cashel and Ossory in the Church of Ireland is the dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford. List of deans of Waterford *Gilbert: 1212 * William Wace: 12–1223 (afterwards Bishop of Waterford) ...

* The Hon. Arthur Henry Cole (28 June 1780 – 16 June 1844) * Lady Sarah Cole (d. 14 March 1833), married Owen Wynne in 1790 * Lady Elizabeth Anne Cole (d. 1807), married Lt.-Col. Richard Magenis in 1788 * Lady Florence Cole (d. 1 March 1862), married Blayney Townley-Balfour in 1797 * Lady Henrietta Frances Cole (22 June 1784–2 July 1848), married

Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey Thomas Philip de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey, 3rd Baron Grantham, 6th Baron Lucas (born Robinson, later Weddell; 8 December 178114 November 1859), styled as The Hon. Thomas Robinson until 1786 and as Lord Grantham from 1786 to 1833, of Wrest Park in ...

on 20 July 1805 He lived at Highfield House in Hampshire, adjacent to the Stratfield Saye estate of his friend the Duke of Wellington.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Enniskillen
at nidirect.gov.uk

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Lowry 1772 births 1842 deaths People from Hart District 19th-century Anglo-Irish people Irish soldiers in the British Army 27th Regiment of Foot officers British Army generals British Army commanders of the Napoleonic Wars British Army personnel of the Peninsular War Cole family (Anglo-Irish aristocracy) Governors of British Mauritius Governors of the Cape Colony Irish MPs 1798–1800 Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Fermanagh constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Fermanagh constituencies (1801–1922) Military personnel from Dublin (city) Politicians from Dublin (city) Younger sons of earls Recipients of the Army Gold Cross UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs 1820–1826 19th-century Irish military personnel