John Cradock, 1st Baron Howden

General The Right Honourable The Lord Howden GCB


Governor of the Cape Colony
In office 1811–1814
Monarch	George III
Preceded by	The Earl of Caledon
Succeeded by	Lord Charles Somerset

Personal details
Born	11 August 1759
Died	26 July 1839 (aged 79)
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	General
Commands	Madras Army
Battles/wars	Irish Rebellion

General John Francis Cradock, 1st Baron Howden GCB (11 August 1759 – 26 July 1839) was a British peer, politician and soldier.

Life

He was son of John Cradock, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin.^[1] In 1775 he was admitted to St John's College, Cambridge.^[2]

In 1777, he was appointed a Cornet in the 4th Regiment of Horse, which in 1779 he exchanged to become an Ensign in the Coldstream Guards, and in 1781 he was promoted a Lieutenant with the rank of Captain. In 1785 he purchased a commission as a Major in the 12th Dragoons, exchanging this in 1786 for a post in the 13th Foot, where he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in 1789.

He commanded the 13th in the West Indies in 1790, and served a second time in the West Indies commanding a battalion of grenadiers in 1793, where he was wounded at the reduction of Martinique and appointed the aide-de-camp of Sir Charles Grey, receiving the thanks of Parliament for his services.

In 1795 he was appointed Colonel of the 127th Foot, and placed on half-pay when that regiment was reduced in 1797. He was appointed Major-General in 1798, and served in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 as Quartermaster-General in Ireland, seeing action the Battle of Vinegar Hill. He accompanied Cornwallis in his campaign against the French forces landed in Ireland, and was severely wounded at the Battle of Ballinamuck.

Cradock entered the Irish House of Commons for Clogher in 1785. In 1790, he stood as Member of Parliament for Castlebar, a seat he held until 1798. He then represented Midleton from 1799 to 1800 and subsequently Thomastown to the Act of Union in 1801. The year before he had been appointed to command the second battalion of the 54th Foot, and again placed on half-pay when that battalion was reduced in 1802. In 1803 he was appointed to the 71st Foot.

In 1801 he was on the staff in the Mediterranean under Sir Ralph Abercromby, seeing action several times and serving as second-in-command of a division in the field. After the surrender of Cairo and Alexandria, at which he was present, he was despatched with a force to occupy Corsica and Naples, but was recalled en route after the Peace of Amiens was signed.

He was then appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army; after the departure of Lord Lake, he commanded the whole of the forces in the Iberian Peninsula for almost a year. In 1808 he was appointed to command the forces in Portugal, handing over command to Arthur Wellesley on 22 April 1809.^[3] From there moved to the command of the 43rd (Monmouthshire) Light Infantry in January 1809, briefly serving as the Governor of Gibraltar later that year.

In 1811 he was appointed Governor of the Cape Colony and commander of the forces on that station, resigning in 1814 and being succeeded by Lord Charles Somerset. He was promoted full general in 1814, elevated to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Howden in 1819, and to the Peerage of the United Kingdom under the same title in 1831.

The town of Cradock in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, is named after him.

References

The Royal Military Calendar, Or Army Service and Commission Book, ed. John Philippart. p. 12-14, Vol II of V, 3rd edition, London, 1820. Online edition at Google Books
"Caradoc, John Francis". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Notes

↑ s:Cradock, John (DNB00)
↑ "Cradock, [John] Francis (CRDK775JF)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
↑ Chartrand, Rene (2012). Oldest Allies - Alcantara 1809. Osprey Publishing. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-78096-895-7.

Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by Sackville Hamilton Thomas St George	Member of Parliament for Clogher 1785–1790 With: Sackville Hamilton	Succeeded by Sackville Hamilton Richard Townsend Herbert
Preceded by James Browne Thomas Warren	Member of Parliament for Castlebar 1790–1797 With: Edward FitzGerald	Succeeded by Thomas Lindsay Denis Browne
Preceded by Benjamin Blake Woodward Richard Hardinge	Member of Parliament for Midleton 1799–1800 With: Benjamin Blake Woodward	Succeeded by Benjamin Blake Woodward Hon. Richard Annesley
Preceded by Hon. Charles William Stewart William Gardiner	Member of Parliament for Thomastown 1800 – 1801 With: William Gardiner	Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom
Military offices
Preceded by James Stuart	C-in-C, Madras Army 1804–1807	Succeeded by Hay McDowall
Government offices
Preceded by Sir Hew Dalrymple	Governor of Gibraltar (acting) 1809	Succeeded by Colin Campbell
Preceded by Henry George Grey, acting	Governor of the Cape Colony 1811–1814	Succeeded by Lord Charles Somerset

Governors of Gibraltar
	Spanish period (1462–1704) De Salinas Habsburg occupation (1704) Hesse-Darmstadt Nugent Shrimpton Elliott Stanwix Treaty of Utrecht (1713) Portmore Kane Clayton Sabine Hargrave Bland Fowke Tyrawley Home Cornwallis Boyd Eliott Boyd Rainsford O'Hara Kent and Strathearn Fox Dalrymple Cradock Campbell Don Chatham Don Crown colony (1830) Houston Woodford Wilson Gardiner Fergusson Codrington Airey Williams Napier of Magdala Adye Hardinge Smyth Nicholson Biddulph White Forestier-Walker Hunter Miles Smith-Dorrien Monro Godley Harington Ironside Liddell Gort Mason-Macfarlane Eastwood Anderson MacMillan Redman Keightley Ward Lathbury Begg Grandy Jackson British dependent territory (1981) Williams Terry Reffell Chapple White Luce Durie British Overseas Territory (2002) Richards Fulton Johns Dutton Davis

Governors of the Cape Colony
	British occupation 1806–1814	David Baird Henry George Grey Du Pre Alexander Henry George Grey John Francis Cradock Robert Meade
	British colony 1814–1910	Charles Somerset Rufane Shaw Donkin Richard Bourke Galbraith Lowry Cole Thomas Francis Wade Benjamin D'Urban George Thomas Napier Peregrine Maitland Henry Pottinger Harry Smith George Cathcart Charles Henry Darling George Grey Robert Henry Wynyard Philip Edmond Wodehouse Charles Craufurd Hay Henry Barkly Henry Bartle Frere Henry Hugh Clifford George Cumine Strahan Hercules Robinson Leicester Smyth Henry D'Oyley Torrens Henry Augustus Smyth Henry Brougham Loch William Gordon Cameron Hercules Robinson William Howley Goodenough Alfred Milner William Francis Butler Walter Hely-Hutchinson Henry Jenner Scobell Those in italics were Acting Governors
State President of the South African Republic State President of the Orange Free State Prime Minister of the Cape Colony Prime Minister of Natal

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