Name Henry Belasyse | Role Died 1717 | |
Major-General Sir Henry Belasyse (also spelled Bellasis; 1648 – 14 December 1717) was an English soldier.
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Early life
He was educated in strict principles of loyalty and attachment to monarchical government, and, though but a youth at the time, he suffered in the royal cause during the usurpations of Cromwell. Soon after the Restoration he was appointed captain of an independent company of one hundred men in garrison at Hull, of which fortress the Lord Belasyse was appointed governor, but who resigned in 1673 in consequence of the Test Act, he being a Roman Catholic.
Dutch service
In the summer of 1674 Sir Henry Belasyse raised a company of musketeers and pikemen for the service of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and was engaged at the siege of Grave in the autumn of that year. He also served at the siege of Maestricht in 1676, at the battle of Mont Cassel in 1677, and on 3 April 1678 he succeeded Colonel Ashley in the command of the regiment that would later become the 6th Foot. At the battle of St Denis in 1678 he evinced signal valour and ability, vying in feats of gallantry with his commanders the Prince of Orange and the Earl of Ossory, and was wounded. During the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth in 1685, he accompanied his regiment to England, and in 1687 circumstances occurred which occasioned him to withdraw from the Dutch service, but he preserved his attachment to the Protestant interest and to the Prince of Orange.
War in Ireland
On 28 September 1689 Belasyse succeeded the Duke of Norfolk in the colonelcy of a newly raised regiment (later the 22nd Foot), which corps he served in Ireland under the Duke of Schomberg. He served as a brigadier-general under King William in 1690, was at the battle of the Boyne, and at the siege of Limerick, where he again distinguished himself. In 1691 he acquired new honours at the siege of Athlone; he also displayed bravery and judgment at the battle of Aughrim, and on the reduction of Galway he was appointed governor of that fortress, and took possession of the town on 26 July, with his own and two other regiments of foot.
Service on the Continent
The rank of major-general was conferred on this distinguished officer in April 1692, and he commanded a brigade under King William in Flanders in the autumn of that year. He acquired additional reputation at the battle of Landen in 1693, also in the command of a brigade under King William during the following campaign, and in October 1694 the King rewarded him with the rank of lieutenant-general. Belasyse's meritorious conduct procured him the favour and confidence of his sovereign, by whom he was employed on important services. He commanded the camp on the Bruges canal in May 1695, and a division of the covering army was placed under his orders during the siege of Namur. At the close of the campaign he was appointed president of the general court-martial which tried the officers who surrendered Dixmude and Deinse to the enemy, and sentenced Major-General Ellemberg to be shot. He continued to serve in the Netherlands until the peace of Ryswick.
Later life
On 28 June 1701 Belasyse obtained the colonelcy of the Queen Dowager's Regiment (later 2nd Foot) in exchange with General Selwyn. In 1702 he was second-in-command of the British troops in the expedition to Cadiz, and having been charged with participating in the plunder of Port St Mary, he was tried by a court-martial and dismissed the service. His reputation was thus unfortunately tarnished, but his crime does not appear to have been considered of a heinous nature, as he was subsequently elected a member of Parliament for the city of Durham, in 1711 was appointed by Queen Anne one of the commissioners to inquire into several particulars respecting the accounts of the army in Spain, and in June 1713 he was appointed governor of Berwick.