William Rowan GCB (1789 - 1879)

Born 18 Jun 1789 in Mullans, County Antrim, Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Martha (Spong) Rowan — married 22 Jan 1811 in Malling, Kent, England, United Kingdom

Died 26 Sep 1879 at age 90 in Bath, Somerset, England, United Kingdom

Biography

William was born in 1789. He was the son of Robert Rowan and Eliza Wilson.

Field-Marshal and Col. 52nd Foot, a distinguished officer, who served in Sicily. Portugal, France and Belgium (at Waterloo), and commanded the Forces in Canada from 1849 to 1855.

He served in the Peninsular War and then the Hundred Days, fighting at the Battle of Waterloo and taking part in an important charge led by Sir John Colborne against the Imperial Guard when he was wounded. He later assisted Colborne in Colborne's new role as Acting Governor General of British North America during the rebellions by the Patriote movement in 1837. Rowan returned to Canada as Commander-in-Chief, North America in which role he made an important conciliatory speech in response to the burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal by an angry mob in April 1849.

William married Martha Spong, daughter of John Spong, ol Mill Hall, Kent, 0n 22 January 1811.

Marriage Notice - Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal February 1, 1811

On Tuesday, Jan, 22, at Malling, Captain William Rowan, 52d regiment, to Martha, third daughter of G. Spong, esq. of Aylesford.

They did not have any children.

He died in 1879.

Death Notice - Illustrated London News October 4, 1879

Field-Marshal Sir William Rowan, G.C.B., Colonel 52nd Foot a veteran Peninsular officer, died on the 26th ult. at Gay-street Bath, in his ninetieth year. He was the eighth son of Robert Rowan, Esq., of Mullans and Garry in the county of Antrim...

Sources

• A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland by Sir Bernard Burke and Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Publication date 1912, Family: Rowan of Mount Davys
• Wikipedia - William Rowan