William Draper (general)
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Sir William Draper (1721- Bath, January 8, 1787), was a British military officer who conquered Manila in 1762, but lost Minorca in 1782.
He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge.
In 1744, during the War of Austrian succession he became ensign in Lord Henry Beauclerk's regiment, adjutant in the 1st Foot Guards in 1746, and a lieutenant and captain in 1749.
In the Seven Years' War he commanded the 79th Regiment of Foot , raised by himself, at the siege of Fort St. George, 1758-9.
A colonel in 1762, he had his greatest triumph when he led together with Vice-Admiral Samuel Cornish an expedition against Manila, capturing the city on October 6, 1762.
In 1765 he was colonel of the 16th Regiment of Foot. In December 1765 he became Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath and defended the Marquis of Granby against Junius in 1769.
In 1769 he lost his wife and went on a tour through the American colonies. At New York, he married Susanna De Lancey, daughter of Oliver De Lancey, the head of one of the leading families in the Province of New York.
In 1774, Draper chaired the committee[1] that formulated some early laws of cricket. They were settled and revised at the Star and Garter in Pall Mall on Friday 25 February 1774. The committee included the Duke of Dorset, Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville, Harry Peckham and other "Noblemen and Gentlemen of Kent, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Middlesex, and London".[2] This meeting was one of the earlier sets of cricket rules and is acknowledged as being the first where the Leg before wicket rule was introduced.[3]
A lieutenant-general in 1777, he became lieutenant-governor of Minorca, 1779-82, until the island was lost to the French and Spanish in the Battle of Minorca. He preferred unfounded charges of misconduct against Lieutenant-general Hon. James Murray, who had suspended him. He was reprimanded by a general court-martial in 1783.
He died on January 8, 1787 and was buried in the old Abbey Church in Bath, where a monument has been erected to his memory.
[edit] References
- ^ Pitt's Gallant Conqueror: The Turbulent Life of Lieutenant General Sir William Draper K.B. by James Dreaper, Published by I.B. Taurus, July 2006
- ^ Cricketana by James Mycroft, 1865
- ^ 'Pall Mall, South Side, Past Buildings: Nos 94-95 Pall Mall: The Star and Garter', Survey of London: volumes 29 and 30: St James Westminster, Part 1 (1960), pp. 351-352. URL. Date accessed: 08 June 2008.
