William Gardiner (British Army officer)

Lieutenant General William Neville Gardiner (23 April 1748 – 7 February 1806) was a British soldier in the American Revolution and later as a diplomat. He served as minister plenipotentiary at Brussels 1791, at Warsaw 1793, and as commander in chief of the forces at Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (1805-1806).

Career

He fought in the American Revolution in the 45th Regiment of Foot. He was in the Boston campaign, serving as the aide-de-camp to Sir William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe. While in the 10th Regiment of Foot, Gardiner fought in Philadelphia campaign (1777) and wounded in the Battle of Monmouth.[1] Howe said of him that "Capt. Gardiner was always the first in the field and the last to leave it."[2]

Gardiner commanded the 88th Regiment of foot in 1782 and then the following year became colonel in the 99th Regiment of Foot (Jamaica Regiment).[3]

In 1789, Gardiner was sent to the Austrian Netherlands during the revolution. He reported on the condition of Fortress of Luxembourg. He was stationed at Brussels until 1792.[3]

In 1792, he became minister plenipotentiary to Warsaw (1792). He was there during fall of Kosciusko, the Battle of Praga, where he had to maintain 300 people at the embassy (1794).[3]

Gardiner stood for the Irish House of Commons at Clogher, but was declared not duly elected on 3 February 1800. He was then returned for Thomastown on the interest of Lord Clifden, and was sworn on 8 May 1800. His service as a Member of Parliament was brief, as the last meeting of the Parliament of Ireland before the Union was on 2 August that year.[4] He held the sinecure post of Governor of Kinsale from 1801[5] until his death.[6]

In Dublin, commander in chief, Lord Charles Cornwallis described him "like Lake in manner, but graver." He commanded the 60th Regiment of Foot during the British anti-invasion preparations of 1803–05.[7]

In 1805, Gardiner was appointed commander-in-chief in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.[3] He died in Halifax, Nova Scotia the following year and is buried in the crypt of St. Paul's Church (Halifax).[8]

Family

He was the son of Charles Gardiner d. 1769 and brother of Luke Gardiner, 1st Viscount Mountjoy (d. 1798). He married the youngest daughter of Sir Richard Wrottesley, 7th Baronet.[3]

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References
  1. p. 44
  2. History of St. Paul's Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia. 1949. P. 291
  3. Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1889). "Gardiner, William (1748-1806)" . Dictionary of National Biography. 20. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  4. E. M. Johnston-Liik, History of the Irish Parliament 1692–1800 (2002) vol. IV, p. 263.
  5. "No. 15398". The London Gazette. 18–22 August 1801. p. 1016.
  6. "No. 15915". The London Gazette. 3–6 May 1806. p. 557.
  7. Gardiner - Obituary, Gentleman's Magazine. 1806.
  8. Harris, V, The Church of St Paul, Halifax, Nova Scotia 1749-1949 (Toronto: 1949), p. 288, 291
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