Thomas Picton

Infobox Military Person
name= Thomas Picton
lived=1758 - 1815


caption="Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton GCB"
nickname=
placeofbirth=Poyston, Pembrokeshire
placeofdeath=Waterloo
allegiance=flagicon|United Kingdom Great Britain
branch=
serviceyears=1771 - 1815
rank=Lieutenant General
unit=
commands=
battles=French Revolutionary Wars
Napoleonic Wars
awards=Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
relations=
laterwork=

Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton GCB (August, 1758 – 18 June 1815) was a British Army officer from Wales who fought in a number of campaigns for Britain, and rose to the rank of lieutenant general. According to the historian Alessandro Barbero, Picton was "respected for his courage and feared for his irascible temperament." He is chiefly remembered for his exploits under the Duke of Wellington in the Iberian Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo, where he was mortally wounded while his division stopped d'Erlon's corps attack against the allied centre left, and so became the most senior officer to die at Waterloo.

Early life

Picton was the younger son of Thomas Picton, and was born in Poyston, Pembrokeshire, Wales. In 1771 he obtained an ensign's commission in the 12th Regiment of Foot, but he did not join until two years later. The regiment was then stationed at Gibraltar, where he remained until he was made captain in the 75th in January 1778; he then returned to Britain.

The regiment was disbanded five years later, and Picton quelled a mutiny amongst the men by his prompt personal action and courage, and was promised the rank of major as a reward. He did not receive it, and after living in retirement on his father's estate for nearly twelve years, he went out to the West Indies in 1794 on the strength of a slight acquaintance with Sir John Vaughan, the commander-in-chief, who made him his "aide-de-camp" and gave him a captaincy in the 17th foot. Shortly afterwards he was promoted major.

New World operations

Under Sir Ralph Abercromby, who succeeded Vaughan in 1795, he took part in the capture of St Lucia (for which he was promoted to lieutenant colonel) and also in that of St Vincent. However, he did not see action in the war. After the reduction of Trinidad, Abercromby made Picton governor of the island. He administered the island with much brutality and ensured order. Many of the British inhabitants petitioned against the retrocession of the island to Spain, and their protest, with Picton's and Abercromby's representations, ensured the retention of Trinidad as a British possession. In October 1801 he was gazetted brigadier-general. By this time the brutalities of his government, as reported by his opponents, republicans, revolutionaries and humanitarians, had led to a demand at home for his removal. Colonel William Fullarton (1754–1808) was appointed as the Senior Member of a commission to govern the island, Samuel Hood became the second member, and Picton himself the junior.

The workings of the commission were held up on account of serious differences of opinion between Picton & Fullarton. Picton, under the impression that Fullarton had been sent to the island only to secure his removal with-held all cooperation and an annoyed Fullarton commenced a series of open enquiries on allegations against Picton.

Picton thereupon tendered his resignation, and was soon followed by Hood(1803).

Picton joined Hood in military operations in St Lucia and Tobago.However, even here, he did not see action as the operations succeeded before his reaching St Lucia. In the meanwhile, Fullarton, having collected sufficient evidence against Picton's atrocities had returned to London, under fear of physical harm from Picton's supporters and had presented his findings to the Privy council.

Picton was removed from his position by Vargas and finding no other option, Picton returned to Britain. In December 1803 he was arrested by order of the Privy Council and his bail was set at 40,000 pounds. The high amount for bail was deemed by many as a proof of his guilt.

He was tried in the court of kings bench before Lord Ellenborough in 1806 on many charges, the most prominent being of unlawfully applying torture to extort a confession from Luisa Calderon, a free mulatto girl who had been charged, along with a man, with robbery. The torture consisted in compelling the trussed up girl to stand on one toe on a flat-headed peg for one hour on many occasions within a span of a few days. The torture had been ordered and approved by Picton. Of the 37 charges against Picton including the more serious charge of burning alive of negroes and mulatto for alleged poisoning, only the charge of unlawful torture of Luisa Calderon was proved. On these grounds the court returned a technical verdict of guilty, which was superseded in 1808 by a special verdict on retrial. It is alleged that Pictons and his friends had used all their influence to browbeat and threaten the witnesses, many of whom rescinded from their original testimonies, resulting in the acquittal

Friends of Picton in the military and slave owners subscribed towards his legal expenses. Picton contributed the same sum to a relief fund after a widespread fire in Port of Spain. He had meanwhile been promoted major-general, and in 1809 he had been governor of Flushing in the Netherlands during the Walcheren expedition.

Europe service

In 1810, at Wellington's request, he was appointed to command a division in Spain. For the remaining years of the Peninsular War, Picton was one of Wellington's principal subordinates. The commander-in-chief, it is true, never reposed in him the confidence that he gave to Beresford, Hill and Robert Craufurd. But in the resolute, thorough and punctual execution of a well-defined task Picton had no superior in the army. His debut, owing partly to his naturally stern and now embittered temper, and partly to the difficult position in which he was placed, was unfortunate. On the River Coa in July 1810 Craufurd's division became involved in an action, and Picton, his nearest neighbour, refused to support him, as Wellington's direct orders were to avoid an engagement. Shortly after this, however, at Busaco, Picton found and used his first great opportunity for distinction. Here he had a plain duty, that of repulsing the French attack, and he performed that duty with a skill and resolution, which indicated his great powers as a troop-leader.

After the winter in the lines of Torres Vedras, he added to his reputation and to that of his division, the 'Fighting' 3rd, at the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro. In September he was given the local rank of lieutenant-general, and in the same month the division won great glory by its rapid and orderly retirement under severe pressure from the French cavalry at El Bodon. In October Picton was appointed to the colonelcy of the 77th Regiment of Foot.

In the first operations of 1812 Picton and Craufurd, side by side for the last time, stormed the two breaches of Ciudad Rodrigo, Craufurd and Picton's second in command, Major-General Henry Mackinnon, being mortally wounded. At Badajoz, a month later, the successful storming of the fortress was due to his daring self-reliance and penetration in converting the secondary attack on the castle, delivered by the 3rd Division, into a real one. He was himself wounded in this terrible engagement, but would not leave the ramparts, and the day after, having recently inherited a fortune, he gave every survivor of his command a guinea. His wound, and an attack of fever, compelled him to return to Britain to recoup his health, but he reappeared at the front in April 1813. While in Britain he was invested with the collar and badge of a K.B. by the prince regent George, and in June he was made a lieutenant-general in the army.

The conduct of the 3rd division under his leadership at the battle of Vittoria and in the engagements in the Pyrenees raised his reputation as a resolute and skilful fighting general to a still higher point. Early in 1814 he was offered, but after consulting Wellington declined, the command of the British forces operating on the side of Catalonia. He thus bore his share in the Orthez campaign and in the final victory before Toulouse.

On the break-up of the division the officers presented Picton with a valuable service of plate, and on 24 June 1814 he received for the seventh time the thanks of the House of Commons for his great services. Somewhat to his disappointment he was not included amongst the generals who were raised to the peerage, but early in 1815 he was made a G.C.B.

Death

When Napoleon returned from Elba, Picton, at Wellington's request, accepted a high command in the Anglo-Dutch army. He was severely wounded at Quatre Bras on 16 June, but concealed his wound and retained command of his troops. At Waterloo, two days later, while repulsing with impetuous valour "one of the most serious attacks made by the enemy on our position," he was shot through the temple by a musket ball, making him the highest ranking victim of the battle on the allied side. Since his luggage had not arrived in time, he had fought the battle wearing civilian clothes and a top hat. Welsh folklore says that his top hat was shot off by a cannon-ball moments before his death, but this is not known to be backed by any historical source.

His body was brought home to London, and buried in the family vault at St George church, Hanover Square. A public monument was erected to his memory in St Paul's Cathedral (Picton is one of only two Welshmen buried in the cathedral), by order of parliament, and in 1823 another was erected at Carmarthen by subscription, the king contributing a hundred guineas.

Namings in his honour

* The town of Picton in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada was named in his honour.
* The town of Picton, New Zealand was named in his honour.
* Picton, New South Wales is a town named in his honour by his military colleague, Lachlan Macquarie
* Picton Road is a Highway in Australia
* Picton Road is located in the Laventille area of Port of Spain, in Trinidad.
* Picton Barracks, Bulford, Wiltshire is HQ of UK 3 Div
* The Picton, a boys boarding house at Wellington College, Crowthorne, UK which is an English co-educational public school founded by Queen Victoria and Prime Minister The Earl of Derby in 1859 as the national monument to Britain's greatest military figure, the Duke of Wellington.
* A First World War Royal Navy "Lord Clive"-class monitor was named HMS "Sir Thomas Picton" in his honour.
* Sir Thomas Picton School (Ysgol Sir Thomas Picton) is a mixed comprehensive school in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
* Picton Street, Montpelier, Bristol was built and named in honour of Sir Thomas Picton who, as mere Captain Picton, in 1783 endeared himself to Bristolians by bravely facing the rebellious 75th Battalion on College Green, Bristol and averting a military mutiny. There is also a fine double-bayed villa in the street named after him, Picton Lodge.
* There is a General Picton Inn in Porthcawl, a General Picton public house in Picton Place, Nantyffyllon, Maesteg, Mid Glamorgan. The public house sign contains an image of Thomas Picton. The area also contains a Picton Street also named after him. He owned a large amount of land very close to The General Picton public house.

References

See Robinson's "Life of Sir Thomas Picton" (London, 1836), with which, however, compare Napier's and Oman's histories of the Peninsular War as to controversial points.

Barbero, Alessandro, The Battle of Waterloo, Walker & Co., New York, 2005, p. 14.

External links

* [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Sir_Thomas_Picton Sir Thomas Picton] at the Classic Encyclopedia, based on the 1911 Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
* [http://www.napoleonguide.com/soldiers_picton.htm www.napoleonguide.com Picton]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/6467417.stm BBC: Picton past examined]

Political Summary