George Augustus Wetherall

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Sir George Augustus Wetherall (1788 – 8 April 1868) was a British General, was born in Penton, Hampshire, England, in 1788 and died at Sandhurst, England, in 1868. He was the son of General Sir Frederick Wetherall and was educated in the senior department of the Royal military college, and entered the army in 1803. He served as brigade-major at the Cape of Good Hope in 1807, took part in the conquest of Java as aide-de-camp to his father, from 1822 till 1825 was military secretary to the commander-in-chief of Madras, and in 1826 was appointed deputy judge-advocate-general in India.

General Wetherall is most famous for his services during the rebellion in Canada of 1837/38 during which he was the Commander of the Royals’ 2nd battalion in the Battle of Saint-Charles, a battle part of the Lower Canada Rebellion fought on November 25, 1837 between Great Britain and Lower Canada Patriote rebels. After the victory, he and his troops unearthed the Colonne de la liberté, a column erected in Saint-Charles by the Patriotes for the Assembly of the Six Counties, and brought it back as a war trophy to Montreal, along with a number of prisoners.

For his services Wetherall was made a companion of the Order of the Bath. He was deputy adjutant-general in Canada from 1843 till 1850, when he was appointed to that office at the Horse Guards, London. In 1854 he was made adjutant-general, which post he held till in 1860 he took command of the northern district. At the expiration of his services in 1865 he was appointed governor of the Royal military college at Sandhurst. He became colonel of the 84th regiment in 1854, was knighted in 1856, made a lieu-tenant-general in 1857, and a G. C. B. in 1865.