Lieutenant-general William Tomkinson (18 January 1790 – 1872) was a British Army officer who served during the Peninsular War and the Waterloo Campaign.
William Tomkinson in an image from The Diary of a Cavalry Officer in the Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign [1]
Life[]
The fourth son of Henry Tomkinson of Dorfold, Cheshire, his mother was Anne, daughter of John Darlington of Aston, Chester.[2]
Tomkinson was gazetted to the 16th Light Dragoons as a cornet in December 1807, joining his regiment the following April.[3] During the Peninsular War (1809-1813) he was seriously wounded at the crossing of the Douro on 11 May 1809 but recovered to see action at the battles of Busaco (1810), Redhina (1811), Fuentes de Oñoro (1811), El Bodón (1811), Salamanca (1812) and Vittoria (1813).[4]
The battle damaged sabre of then Captain William Tomkinson, inscribed with his initials WT.
He was subsequently at Waterloo and remained in France with the Army of Occupation until December 1815.[4]
Retirement[]
Tomkinson retired on half-pay in 1821 and bought the land for Willington Hall, Cheshire, on the former estate of Lord Alvanley in 1827.[5] In retirement he became a magistrate and huntsman.[3]
Family[]
In 1836 he married Susan, daughter of Thomas Tarleton of Bolesworth Castle, Cheshire. The couple had four sons and two daughters including James Tomkinson who became an M.P. and Henry, who joined the army and went on to command the 1st Royal Dragoons.[3]
References[]
- ↑ The Diary of a Cavalry Officer in the Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign
- ↑ Dalton 1904, p. 88.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Tomkinson 1894, p. vi-vii. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "FOOTNOTETomkinson1894" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "FOOTNOTETomkinson1894" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bromley & Bromley 2015, p. 361.
- ↑ "Willington Hall: History". http://willingtonhall.co.uk/about-us/. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
- Bibliography
- Bromley, Janet; Bromley, David (2015). Wellington's Men Remembered Volume 2: A Register of Memorials to Soldiers who Fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo- Volume II: M to Z. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-4738-5768-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=5IOuCAAAQBAJ.
- Dalton, Charles (1904). The Waterloo roll call. With biographical notes and anecdotes. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. https://archive.org/details/waterloorollcall00daltuoft.
- Tomkinson, William (1894). Tomkinson, James. ed. The Diary of a Cavalry Officer in the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaign, 1809-1815. S. Sonnenschein & Company. https://archive.org/details/cu31924024323663.
The original article can be found at William Tomkinson and the edit history here.