William Howe DeLancey

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Colonel Sir William Howe DeLancey KCB (1778 to 26 June 1815) was born in New York City. He died in Mont St Jean, Belgium as a result of injuries sustained at the Battle of Waterloo. He was the only son of Stephen DeLancey and Cornelia Barclay. He was the grandson of Brigadier-General James DeLancey (1717-1785) and great grandson of Etienne DeLancey (1663-1741).

He married in Edinburgh on 4 April 1815 Magdalen, daughter of Sir James Hall of Dunglass, fourth baronet (1761–1832), and Lady Helen Douglas (1762–1837).

DeLancey was one of the first professional staff officers in the British Army, worked for Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington throughout the Peninsular War and was his chief of staff at the Battle of Waterloo.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Early career 3 Waterloo 4 References

[edit] Early life

DeLancey's father, Stephen, and many other members of the DeLancey family were supporters of King George III during the American Revolution. The United States and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris officially ending the war in 1783, and as a result the DeLancey property was sequestrated and the family dispersed.

A number of DeLanceys and their friends, including Stephen's family moved to Beverley, England, where William Howe went to Beverley Grammar School. By 1789 his father had died, and William Howe DeLancey and his family were resident in London. William attended Harrow School from 12 December 1789 until December 1791.

[edit] Early career

On leaving school DeLancey decided to join the British Army and on 7 July 1792, at the age of 15 he became a cornet in the 16th Light Dragoons.

[edit] Waterloo

Soon after his wedding to Magdalen Hall he responded loyally to an appeal to rejoin Wellington who, on assuming command in the Southern Netherlands, had inherited in Sir Hudson Lowe a quartermaster-general whom he could not abide, and whom he succeeded in getting posted elsewhere. Though expressing disappointment at being no more than deputy, De Lancey travelled to Brussels on 9 May.

He conducted the retreat from Quatre Bras on 17 June and marked out the position the troops were to occupy at Waterloo on the 18th June. This was, apparently, not the ground originally chosen by the duke. Late in the battle of Waterloo, while talking to Wellington, he was struck in the back by a spent cannon-ball that broke eight ribs. Left for dead on the field for thirty-six hours, he was taken up and carried to a farmhouse in Mont-St Jean where, though devotedly nursed by his young wife, he died on 26 June 1815. He was buried on the 28th in a Protestant cemetery in St Joost-ten-Node, from where they were removed in 1889 to nearby Evere.

William de Lancey was played by Ian Ogilvy in the 1970 epic film Waterloo.

[edit] References

• Miller, David, Lady De Lancey at Waterloo: A Story of Duty and Devotion. Staplehurst, England, Spellmount, 2000.
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography