Robert Brownrigg

British Army general

Sir

Robert Brownrigg

Bt GCB

1810 portrait by Thomas Lawrence

3rd Governor of British Ceylon
In office
11 March 1812 – 1 February 1820
Preceded by| John Wilson
(Acting governor)
Succeeded by| Edward Barnes
(Acting governor)
10th General Officer Commanding, Ceylon
In office
1812–1812
Preceded by| John Wilson
Succeeded by| Alexander Cosby Jackson
Personal details
Born| 8 February 1758[1]
County Wicklow, Ireland
Died| 27 April 1833(1833-04-27) (aged 75)
Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales
Spouse(s)|

Elizabeth Catharine Lewis

(m. 1789; died 1804)​

Sophia Bissett

(m. 1810; died 1833)​

Children| 7
Military service
Allegiance| United Kingdom
Branch/service| British Army
Years of service| 1775–1833
Rank| General
Commands| Military Secretary
Quartermaster-General to the Forces
General Officer Commanding, Ceylon
Governor of Landguard Fort
Battles/wars|

* French Revolutionary Wars
* Flanders Campaign
* Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland
* Napoleonic Wars
* Walcheren Campaign
* Great Rebellion of 1817–1818

General Sir Robert Brownrigg, 1st Baronet, GCB (8 February 1758 - 27 April 1833) was an Irish-born British statesman and soldier. He brought the last part of Sri Lanka under British rule.

## Early career

[edit]

Brownrigg was commissioned as an ensign in 1775.[2] After service with the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot, he was appointed Military Secretary to the Duke of York in 1795, and accompanied him to The Helder in Holland in 1799.[2] In 1803 he was appointed Quartermaster-General to the Forces.[3] In 1805 he was made Colonel of the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment.

## Walcheren campaign

[edit]

July 1809, he joined the expedition to the Schelt.[2] Brownrigg served as chief-of-staff to the commander Lord Chatham during the aborted operation to seize Antwerp that stalled on Walcheren island. On Chatham's instructions he drew up a memorandum assessing the situation for a council of war at which it was decided to abandon the attempt against Antwerp.[4]

## Governor of Ceylon

[edit]

He left his post as Quartermaster-General to the Forces in 1811, and then, in 1813, he was appointed Governor of Ceylon.[2] In 1815, he acquired the Kingdom of Kandy through an agreement with the help of defecting ministers of the Kandyan King, in the central region of the island, and annexed it to the British crown. The treaty was historically known as "Kandyan Convention".[2] In recognition of his achievement, Brownrigg was created a baronet in 1816.[2]

Brownrigg fought the Great Rebellion of 1817–18 and managed to defeat that, aided by reinforcements from India, by enacting martial law.[2] He strengthened his power in the Kandyan Kingdom by issuing a special announcement on 21st November, 1818, which contains 56 statements, curtailing the power of aristocrats.

He attained the rank of full General in 1819 and left Ceylon the following year.[2]

The gilded bronze ancient Statue of Tara was reputedly found on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. It was acquired by Brownrigg, who later donated it to the British Museum when he was living near Monmouth in 1830.[5] This account however is rejected by the authorities in Sri Lanka who believe that Brownrigg took the statue from the last King of Kandy when the British annexed Kandy.[6]

Brownrigg died near Monmouth in 1833.[2]

## Family

[edit]

In 1789, Brownrigg married Elizabeth Catharine Lewis and together they went on to have six sons and a daughter.[2] Then in 1810 he married Sophia Bissett.[2] He had one more child at the age of 69. [clarification needed]

## Legacy

[edit]

In 2011, President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka initiated, at the country's Parliament, a formal revocation of Robert Brownrigg's Gazette Notification - under which participants of the Great Rebellion of 1817–18 had been condemned as "traitors" and their properties confiscated. Brownrigg's Gazette Notification was declared null and void, and all those he branded as "traitors" were declared to be National Heroes of Sri Lanka. A National Declaration was awarded on their behalf to their descendants on Republic Day of Sri Lanka, 22 May.

## Arms

[edit]

Coat of arms of Robert Brownrigg  |

Crest
1st (of augmentation), A Demi-Kandian proper the body vested Argent and belted Or Cap Gold in the dexter hand a Sword and in the sinister a representation of the Kandian Crown also proper; 2nd, A Mural Crown Or thereon a Sword erect entwined by a Serpent Vert.
Escutcheon
Argent a Lion rampant guardant Sable grasping in the dexter paw a Sword Pommel and Hilt Or thereon a Serpent entwined proper between three Crescents Gules, and as an honourable augmentation (granted by King George IV on 23 Mar 1822) a Chief embattled Vert thereon a representation of the Sceptre of the King of Kandy Or and the Banner of the said king being Gules within a Bordure with a Ray of the Sun issuing from each angle a Lion passant Gold holding a Sword proper in saltire the whole ensigned with a representation of the Crown of the kingdom of Kandy also proper.
Motto
Virescat Vulnere Virtus (Valour strengthens from a wound)

|

## References

[edit]

1. ^ D'Oyly, Sir John (1938). Letters to Ceylon, 1814-1824. W. Heffer & Sons, Limited. p. 118.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Powell, Geoffrey S. "Brownrigg, Sir Robert, first baronet (1759–1833)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/3718. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. ^ "No. 15566". The London Gazette. 12 March 1803. p. 266.
4. ^ Reiter p.157-58
5. ^ figure, Collection Online, British Museum, retrieved 9 December 2013
6. ^ Greenfield, Jeanette (1996). The return of cultural treasures (2nd ed.). [Cambridge]: Cambridge university press. p. 132. ISBN 0521477468.

## Sources

[edit]

* Reiter, Jacqueline. The Late Lord: The Life of John Pitt–2nd Earl of Chatham. Casemate Publishers, 2017.
* Stephens, Henry Morse (1886). "Brownrigg, Robert" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 7\. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Military offices

New post |  Military Secretary
1795-1803  | Succeeded by

William Clinton

Preceded by

Sir David Dundas

|  Quartermaster-General to the Forces
1803-1811  | Succeeded by

Sir James Gordon

Preceded by

John Wilson

|  General Officer Commanding, Ceylon
1812  | Succeeded by

Alexander Cosby Jackson

Preceded by

Peter Hunter

|  Colonel of the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot
1804–1833  | Succeeded by

Sir John Cameron

Government offices
Preceded by

John Wilson
acting governor

|  Governor of Ceylon
1812–1820  | Succeeded by

Edward Barnes
acting governor

Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation |  Baronet
(of London)
1816-1833  | Succeeded by

Robert Brownrigg

* v
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