Charles FitzRoy (British Army officer)

For other people of the same name, see Charles FitzRoy.

General the Honourable Charles FitzRoy (5 September 1762 – 18 October 1831) was a British Army officer.

Biography

The second son of Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton, FitzRoy entered the Army on 27 August 1779 with a commission as cornet in the 11th Dragoons, and in 1782 was made aide-de-camp to General Richard Whyte at Jersey. He was promoted to lieutenant in a newly-raised corps, and on 26 March 1783 to the rank of captain-lieutenant in the 96th Regiment of Foot; when the regiment was reduced following the Peace of Paris the same year, he was placed on half-pay. He was made a captain in the 66th Regiment of Foot in 1787, and lieutenant and captain in the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards on 9 July 1788. In 1793 he served in Flanders, including at the siege of Valenciennes and the siege of Dunkirk. On 21 February 1794 he was made captain of a company in his regiment, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Army, and in May he returned to England.

FitzRoy was granted brevet rank as colonel on 26 January 1797, and in 1799 commanded the grenadier company of the 1st Foot Guards during the expedition to Holland. On 5 January 1801 he was made an extra equerry to the King. He was later appointed aide-de-camp to the King, and major-general on 25 September 1803. He served on the staff of the Eastern District, and from 1804 of the Western District. On 25 March 1805 he was made colonel of the 25th Regiment of Foot, on 27 August 1809 appointed regular equerry to the King, and on 25 July 1810 he was promoted lieutenant-general. He had resigned his post as an equerry by 11 October 1811, when he was replaced by Brent Spencer. On 21 September 1816 he married Eliza (née Barlow), widow of Clavering Savage; they had no children. He was promoted to general on 19 July 1821.