William Haviland (abt. 1717 - 1784)

Born about 1717 in Ireland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 16 Sep 1784 at about age 67 in Penn, Bucks County, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Christopher Haviland [send private message]

This profile is part of the Haviland Name Study.

Biography

William Haviland is Notable.

General William Haviland, son of Captain Peter Haviland & Lucy __?__, was born in 1717/18 in Ireland. He married first in 5 Jul 1748 to Caroline Lee. He married second to Salisbury Aston. They had issue: Thomas and Mary. ^[1]

As fine a specimen of the Christian, gentleman, and soldier as ever adorned a name, or added lustre to a family escocheon. In him were to be found all the knightly qualities of the best days of chivalry, joined to intellectual powers which only needed a wider field of action to have conferred great and lasting benefits upon his country. ... He was born in 1717, and received his first commission at the age of twenty-one. From that time he was in continual active military employment. He was at the reduction of the Havannah, and at the taking of Martinique, where he was second in command. In Canada he concerted measures with the Commander-in-Chief which led to the final conquest of the province. General Amherst being with his command on the Upper St. Lawrence, and Governor Murray, with another corps, below Montreal, General Haviland, at the head of ten thousand men, started from Albany, in the province of New York, and, by a masterly march through a trackless wilderness, joined the two other corps before Montreal, the three divisions arriving at that place within twenty-four hours, when the French Commander capitulated. General Haviland's great mechanical genius was of eminent service in enabling the army to overcome the unusal physical difficulties of the Canadian country. On one occasion in particular, he invented and constructed a novel kind of pontoon bridge for passing the rapids of the St. Lawrence. Among his minor inventions may be mentioned an instrument which bears his name, being called a 'Haviland'. This instrument, which is praised by the mathematician Hutton, as an ingenious contrivance for rapidly finding the proper details for service from corps of different strength, is still used by staff-officers. ^[2]

William Haviland received commission as Ensign in 1739 and would seem to have served at Carthegena and Porto Bello. During the "Fourty-five" he served as A.D.C. to General Blakeney in the defence of Stirling Castle. In 1750 he became Major and in 1752 Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1757-58 he was Commandant at Fort Edward and in the latter year he was present at Ticonderoga. In 1762 he was Second-in-Command to Monckton at the capture of Martinique and commanded a Brigade at the seige of Havana and in the same year was promoted to the rank of Major-General. In 1779 he was in command of the Western District in England. In 1783 he became General and died the following year. ^[3]

From the intimate connexion of this family with that of Haviland, it may not be extraneous to introduce, from the authority of my antiquarian correspondent, the mortuary notices upon its members in Penn church; the words of the inscription upon the General, few as they are, but expressive, being the suggestion of Mr. Burke. "Near the vestry door, on a tablet sculptured with military trophies and other appropriate emblems, by Hickey--the arms of Haviland--argent three embattled castles sable, impaling--Aston--argent--a fess in chief three lozenges sable--inscribed--here rest the remains of General William Haviland, late Colonel of the 45th Regiment of Infantry.--An experienced and successful commander without ostentation. A firm friend without profession. A good man without pretence. He died Sept. 16, 1784, aged 67 years.--Also of Mary, relict of Wm. Townly Balfour, Esq. of the kingdom of Ireland, who departed this life August 2, 1789, aged 56 years--after having, by her exemplary patience, pious resignation under a long and severe illness, impressed a genuine value upon those amiable qualities both of the understanding and of the heart, which made her the delight of all who knew her.--Also of Mary, wife of Samuel Ruxton Fitzherbert, Esq., of the kingdom of Ireland,--in whom simplicity of manners adorned a fine understanding--the love of her duty adorned the practice of it--and her affection was rendered inestimable by the sincerity and truth with which it was accompanied. She died Sept. 13th, 1786, aged 29 years. This monument, sacred to the memory of the best of husbands, an affectionate twin sister, and a dutiful daughter, is erected by their disconsolate survivor, Salisbury Haviland. Mrs. Salisbury Haviland herself was buried at Penn, October 6, 1807, and her unmarried sister, Abigail Aston, who had lived with her, was likewise interred Feb. 11th, 1814, aged 80 years.--And as the more humble friends of Mr. Burke's family must not be forgotten in this list of the departed, it may be mentioned that those old and faithful servants, Webster and his wife, repose near the remains of their master, in the cemetery at Beaconsfield; the former dying in December, 1810, the latter in August, 1818." ^[4]

HAVILAND, WILLIAM, army officer; b. 1718 in Ireland, son of Captain Peter Haviland; m. 5 July 1748 Caroline Lee; m. secondly in 1751 Salusbury Aston, and they had one son and one daughter; d. 16 Sep. 1784 at Penn, Buckinghamshire, England. ^[1]

William Haviland was commissioned ensign in the 43rd Foot (Gooch's American Regiment) in December 1739, and he took part in the siege of Cartagena (Columbia) in 1741. The following year he obtained a company in the 27th Foot and during the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland served as an aide-de-camp to the regimental commander Major-General William Blakeney. Haviland was promoted major in 1750 and lieutenant-colonel in 1752. ^[1]

In July 1757 Haviland brought the 27th to Halifax, Nova Scotia, by way of New York to serve in Lord Loudoun's proposed expedition against Louisbourg, Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island). He probably returned with the regiment to New York the following month, and during the winter of 1757-58 he was in command of Ford Edward on the Hudson River. Here he discovered the difficulties inherent in leading colonial troops. Attempting to punish some mutinous rangers, Haviland clashed with Captain Robert Rogers and incurred the wrath of the ill-tempered provincials, who wanted no part of British discipline. Loudoun and Major-General James Abercromby, Haviland's commanding officers, were dissatisfied with the rangers' behaviour but allowed Haviland's request for a court martial to drop. Although they failed to support Haviland completely, his superiors' confidence in his ability was reflected in the fact that the rangers continued as part of his command until the surrender of Montreal in 1760. ^[1]

In the summer of 1758 Haviland took part in Abercromby's unsuccessful attack on Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga, N.Y.), and the following year he commanded the advance force of Jeffery Amherst's expedition up lakes George (Lac Saint-Sacrement) and Champlain. Because of the qualities of leadership Haviland had demonstrated at Fort Edward and during the 1759 campaign, he was selected by Amherst to lead one of the three independent commands intended to converge on Montreal in 1760; the others were to be commanded by Amherst, advancing from Oswego, and James Murray, advancing from Quebec. In command of 3,400 troops, Haviland, no appointed brigadier-general, left Crown Point in August. Moving up Lake Champlain, his force encountered the French under Colonel Louis-Antoine de Bougainville at Fort Ile aux Noix on the Richelieu River. Bougainville hoped to delay Haviland's advance long enough to prevent his rendezvous with the other British forces. With the capture of the French flotilla on the river, however, Bougainville considered the fort indefensible and withdrew to Saint-Jean under cover of night on 27 August. François Bigot, in accessing the significance of the capture of Ile aux Noix, wrote that had Bougainville been able to hold out for as long as had been hoped, 'Canada might have perhaps been saved for this year.' With the rangers in the vanguard, Haviland advanced on Saint-Jean, which the French quickly abandoned. He established communications with Murray and captured Chambly soon afterwards. With the arrival of Amherst's force Montreal was surrounded, and on 8 September the city surrendered. Haviland had played a significant role in completing the conquest of Canada and had taken part in what was probably the most brilliant British military manuever of the Seven Years' War. ^[1]

In December 1760 Haviland was made a colonel commandant in the Royal Americans (60th Foot). In 1761 he accompanied Major-General Robert Monckton's expedition to the West Indies, where he following year he commanded a brigade at the reduction of Martinique and at the siege of Havana, Cuba. Promoted major-general in 1762 and lieutenant-general in 1772, he was appointed colonel of the 45th Foot in 1767. During the American War of Independence he served in England on Amherst's staff and in 1779 was appointed to command the Western District with headquarters at Plymouth. There he won praise for skilfully maintaining cordial relations between the regulars and the militia. In 1783 he was promoted general. After his death his widow and children were looked after by Edmund Burke, a former friend and neighbor; the two families were later linked by marriage." ^[1]

[William Haviland] was aide to General Blakeney in the rebellion of 1745, and in 1757 was lieutenant-colonel of the 27th regiment under Loudon in this country, he served under Abercrombie at Ticonderoga in 1758, under Amherst in 1759-'60, and as brigadier-general Commanded the expedition that reduced Isle Aux Noix, St. Johns, and Chambly, entering Montreal with Amherst in September, 1760. Owing to his mechanical genius, he was enabled to invent means for passing the rapids of the St. Lawrence, and contributed greatly to the success of the English army. He was senior brigadier-general and second in command at the reduction of Martinique in February, 1762, and commanded the 4th brigade at the siege of Havana. He was appointed lieutenant-general in 1772, and general, 19 February, 1783. ^[5]

He died 16 Sep 1784 in Penn, Bucks County, England.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Secondary:Dictionary of Canadian Biography. University of Toronto Press. IV. pp. 334-335.
2. ↑ Secondary:de Havilland, John von Sonntag. A Chronicle of the Ancient and Noble Norman Family of De Havilland, originally of Haverland, in the Cotentin Normandy, now of Guernsey. The Mekeel Press, 1895.
3. ↑ Secondary:Butler, Lewis. The Annals of the King's Royal Rifle Corps. Vol I: The Royal Americans. London, England: Smith, Elder & Co., 1913.
4. ↑ Secondary:Prior, James. Life of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke. H.G. Bohn, 1854.
5. ↑ Virtual American Biographies

• Secondary:Burke, Sir Bernard. A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain. Burke, 1884.
• Secondary:Baugh, Daniel A. The Global Seven Years War 1754-1763: Britain and France in a Great Power Contest . New York, NY: Routledge, 2014.
• Secondary:Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of the Empire in British North America, 1754-1766.
• Secondary:The Correspondence of Edmund Burke
• Secondary:The Correspondence of William Pitt
• Secondary:Journals of Major Robert Rogers
• Wikipedia