Alexander Stewart (British Army officer)

Major-General Alexander Stewart (c. 1739 – 16 December 1794)[1] was a Scottish officer in the British Army and a politician.

Alexander Stewart
Born	c. 1739 Afton, Wigtownshire
Died	16 December 1794
Allegiance	Kingdom of Great Britain
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	Major-General
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War Flanders Campaign

Military career

Born the second son of John Stewart MP (died 1769) of Castle Stewart, and brother of William Stewart MP,[2] Stewart was commissioned as an ensign in the 37th Regiment of Foot on 8 April 1755.[3] He commanded a field force at Orangeburg and fought at the Battle of Eutaw Springs during the American Revolutionary War.[3] He was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Third Foot on 7 July 1775 ; Colonel in the army on 16 May 1780 ; and promoted Major-General on 28 April 1790. He was granted the colonelcy of the 2nd (The Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot on 20 November 1793.[4] He served in the Duke of York's army during the Flanders Campaign.,[3] commanding the First Brigade of infantry during the retreat to Holland in 1794. He returned home towards the end of the year and ‘fell a sacrifice to an illness contracted in consequence of the fatigues he had undergone’, dying 16 December 1794.'[5]

He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kirkcudbright Stewartry from 1786 to 1794.[1][2]

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 2)
2. Thorne, R. G. (1986). R. Thorne (ed.). "STEWART, Alexander I (c.1739-94), of Afton, Ayr and Cairne, Wigtown". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
3. "Major-General Alexander Stewart 1790-1794". Queen’s Royal Surreys. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
4. Cannon, p. 40
5. Thorne, R.G. (1986). The House of Commons 1790-1820. Secker & Warburg. p. 269. ISBN 0-436-52101-6.

Sources

• Cannon, Richard (1838). Historical Record of the Second, or Queen's Royal Regiment of Foot. London: Clowes and Sons.