Francis de Rottenburg
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Major-General Francis de Rottenburg, baron de Rottenburg (1757-1832) was born in what is now Gdansk, Poland to a Swiss family and became a British military officer and colonial administrator. He spent almost a decade in the French army which came to an end with the French Revolution. In 1795, de Rottenburg joined the British army serving in Hompesch’s Hussars, a unit of foreign-born troops. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonal in the 5th Batallion commanding the unit during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 as well as the capture of Suriname in 1799.
An expert in the use of light infantry he wrote the first British instruction manual on their use, though the manual had to be translated to English from German.
De Rottenburg was sent to British North America prior to the War of 1812 and became a major-general in command of the Montreal district.
He became the military administrator of Upper Canada in 1813. George Prevost, governor-in-chief of British North America and commander of British forces, appointed de Rottenburg after removing his predecessor, Roger Hale Sheaffe due to complaints from the establishment in the province. De Rottenburg proved to be a poor military commander due to his excessive caution in regards to using troops. His inaction resulted in Lake Erie being captured by the Americans .
De Rottenburg imposed martial law in the Eastern and Johnstown districts to force farmers to sell supplies to the army.
The arrival of Gordon Drummond allowed de Rottenburg to be moved to Lower Canada where he commanded forces south of the St. Lawrence River at Montreal.
In September 1814, when British forces invaded the United States de Rottenburg was put in command of three brigades in the Lake Champlain campaign and the Battle of Plattsburgh. After briefly serving as acting administrator of Lower Canada he was recalled to Britain and left Quebec in July 1815. He apparently resided in England until his death, and accumulated various rewards: knight commander of the Royal Hanoverian Order in 1817, knight bachelor on 12 Feb. 1818, and lieutenant-general on 12 Aug. 1819.
| Preceded by: Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe | Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada | Succeeded by: Sir Gordon Drummond |