Benjamin d'Urban
Encyclopedia
Lieutenant-General Sir Benjamin d'Urban, GCB
, KCH
, KCTS
(1777 – 25 May 1849) was a British
general
and colonial administrator
, who is best known for his frontier policy when he was the Governor in the Cape Colony
(now in South Africa
).
, and joined the British Army
in 1793, enlisting as a cornet
in the Queen's Bays at the age of sixteen. He made rapid progress in the Army and distinguished himself in the Peninsular War
. Assigned to the Portuguese army, he was quartermaster general and chief-of-staff to William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford
. He served in all the principal sieges and battles, never asked to go on leave and was laden with honors including Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
, Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order
and Commander of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword
. He received the Army Gold Cross and five clasps for the battles of Busaco, Albuera
, Badajoz
, Salamanca
, Vitoria
, the Pyrenees
, Nivelle
, the Nive
, and Toulouse
.
Brigadier General d'Urban was given command of a Portuguese cavalry brigade consisting of the 1st, 11th and 12th Dragoons. At the Battle of Salamanca
on July 22, 1812, d'Urban's troopers performed well while assisting the 3rd Division's attack on the French left flank. During the Siege of Burgos
campaign, d'Urban's horsemen were routed in an action at Majadahonda
(Las Rozas) on August 11, losing 108 men. His brigade was present but not engaged at the Battle of Vitoria
in June 1813.
. In 1824 he became lieutenant governor of Demerara-Essequibo
, where in 1831 he carried out the amalgamation with Berbice
to form British Guiana
, of which he was its first governor (1831–33). Three years later he was appointed to the post of Governor of the Cape Colony
.
In January 1834 in South Africa
d'Urban took office as governor and commander in chief of the Cape Colony. His administration was complicated by the exodus of Dutch
farmers to the far north and east (known as the Great Trek
) and the outbreak of the Cape Frontier Wars of (1834–1835) created by incursions of Bantu
-speaking Xhosa peoples. He drove back the invaders and annexed the territory between the Keiskamma and Great Kei
(Groot-Kei) rivers.
He was in office when Britain abolished slavery
, established municipal and legislative councils, occupied Natal, now KwaZulu-Natal
, and named it as a new colony for the British Empire. To commemorate this the name of the principal port was changed in 1835 from Port Natal to Durban
.
who went to England to give evidence before a parliamentary committee and aroused public opinion against d'Urban. The public outcry influenced Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg
, the colonial secretary. In a despatch dated May 1, 1837, Glenelg dismissed D'Urban, who remained governor until the arrival of his successor in January 1838 and continued in his military capacity in South Africa until 1846.
In 1842 d'Urban declined a high military appointment in British Raj
India
offered him by Sir Robert Peel
.
In January 1847 he accepted appointment as commander of Her Majesty's forces in British North America
. There were border disputes and a threat of invasion by the United States
into Canada
near Montreal
. Early in 1847 he set up his headquarters in Montreal.
He remained in Montreal until his death in 1849. He was originally buried at the Papineau military cemetery in Montreal. However, the graves had to be moved because they were in the way of building a new access ramp to the Jacques-Cartier bridge. Sir Benjamin d'Urban's remains now rest at the Last Post Fund National Field of Honour, a military cemetery owned by the Last Post Fund in Pointe-Claire where there is an obelisk to his memory. On the obelisk, there are four plaques: a memorial plaque from the officers of the British Army serving in Canada, a second memorial plaque donated by the City of Durban, one explaining the exhumation and reburial by the Last Post Fund, and one explaining the reburial of the other remains in D'Urban Circle.
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, KCH
Royal Guelphic Order
The Royal Guelphic Order, sometimes also referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent . It has not been conferred by the British Crown since the death of King William IV in 1837, when the personal union of the...
, KCTS
Order of the Tower and Sword
The Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of Valour, Loyalty and Merit is a Portuguese order of knighthood and the pinnacle of the Portuguese honours system. It was created by King Afonso V in 1459....
(1777 – 25 May 1849) was a British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
and colonial administrator
Administrator of the Government
An Administrator in the constitutional practice of some countries in the Commonwealth is a person who fulfils a role similar to that of a Governor or a Governor-General...
, who is best known for his frontier policy when he was the Governor in the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
(now in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
).
Early career
D'Urban was born in HalesworthHalesworth
Halesworth is a small market town in the northeastern corner of Suffolk, England. It is located south west of Lowestoft, and straddles the River Blyth, 9 miles upstream from Southwold. The town is served by Halesworth railway station on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line...
, and joined the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
in 1793, enlisting as a cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
in the Queen's Bays at the age of sixteen. He made rapid progress in the Army and distinguished himself in the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
. Assigned to the Portuguese army, he was quartermaster general and chief-of-staff to William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford
William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford
General William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 1st Marquis of Campo Maior, GCB, GCH, GCTE, PC , was a British soldier and politician...
. He served in all the principal sieges and battles, never asked to go on leave and was laden with honors including Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order
Royal Guelphic Order
The Royal Guelphic Order, sometimes also referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent . It has not been conferred by the British Crown since the death of King William IV in 1837, when the personal union of the...
and Commander of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword
Order of the Tower and Sword
The Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of Valour, Loyalty and Merit is a Portuguese order of knighthood and the pinnacle of the Portuguese honours system. It was created by King Afonso V in 1459....
. He received the Army Gold Cross and five clasps for the battles of Busaco, Albuera
Battle of Albuera
The Battle of Albuera was an indecisive battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about 20 kilometres south of the frontier fortress-town of Badajoz, Spain.From...
, Badajoz
Battle of Badajoz (1812)
In the Battle of Badajoz , the Anglo-Portuguese Army, under the Earl of Wellington, besieged Badajoz, Spain and forced the surrender of the French garrison....
, Salamanca
Battle of Salamanca
The Battle of Salamanca saw Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish armies under the Duke of Wellington defeat Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces among the hills around Arapiles south of Salamanca, Spain on July 22, 1812 during the Peninsular War....
, Vitoria
Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
, the Pyrenees
Battle of the Pyrenees
The Battle of the Pyrenees was a large-scale offensive launched on 25 July 1813 by Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult from the Pyrénées region on Emperor Napoleon’s order, in the hope of relieving French garrisons under siege at Pamplona and San Sebastián...
, Nivelle
Battle of Nivelle
The Battle of Nivelle took place in front of the River Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War . After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops were in hot pursuit of Marshal Soult who only had 60,000 men to place in a 20-mile perimeter...
, the Nive
Battle of the Nive
The Battles of the Nive were fought towards the end of the Peninsular War. Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish army defeated Marshal Nicolas Soult's French army in a series of battles near the city of Bayonne.Unusually, for most of the battle, Wellington...
, and Toulouse
Battle of Toulouse (1814)
The Battle of Toulouse was one of the final battles of the Napoleonic Wars, four days after Napoleon's surrender of the French Empire to the nations of the Sixth Coalition...
.
Brigadier General d'Urban was given command of a Portuguese cavalry brigade consisting of the 1st, 11th and 12th Dragoons. At the Battle of Salamanca
Battle of Salamanca
The Battle of Salamanca saw Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish armies under the Duke of Wellington defeat Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces among the hills around Arapiles south of Salamanca, Spain on July 22, 1812 during the Peninsular War....
on July 22, 1812, d'Urban's troopers performed well while assisting the 3rd Division's attack on the French left flank. During the Siege of Burgos
Siege of Burgos
At the Siege of Burgos, from 19 September to 21 October 1812, the Anglo-Portuguese Army led by General Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington tried to capture the castle of Burgos from its French garrison under the command of General of Brigade Jean-Louis Dubreton. The French repulsed every...
campaign, d'Urban's horsemen were routed in an action at Majadahonda
Battle of Majadahonda
In the Battle of Majadahonda on 11 August 1812, a British-Portuguese cavalry force under Major-General George Bock and Brigadier-General Benjamin d'Urban fought a French cavalry division led by General of Division Anne-François-Charles Trelliard. The French scored an initial success by routing a...
(Las Rozas) on August 11, losing 108 men. His brigade was present but not engaged at the Battle of Vitoria
Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
in June 1813.
Foreign service
In 1819, d'Urban was made Governor of AntiguaAntigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
. In 1824 he became lieutenant governor of Demerara-Essequibo
Demerara-Essequibo
The colony of Demerara-Essequibo was created on 13 August 1814 when the British combined the colonies of Demerara and Esequibo. On 20 November 1815 the colony was formally ceded to Britain by the Netherlands....
, where in 1831 he carried out the amalgamation with Berbice
Berbice
Berbice is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1815 a colony of the Netherlands. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom in the latter year, it was merged with Essequibo and Demerara to form the colony of British Guiana in 1831...
to form British Guiana
British Guiana
British Guiana was the name of the British colony on the northern coast of South America, now the independent nation of Guyana.The area was originally settled by the Dutch at the start of the 17th century as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice...
, of which he was its first governor (1831–33). Three years later he was appointed to the post of Governor of the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
.
In January 1834 in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
d'Urban took office as governor and commander in chief of the Cape Colony. His administration was complicated by the exodus of Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
farmers to the far north and east (known as the Great Trek
Great Trek
The Great Trek was an eastward and north-eastward migration away from British control in the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s by Boers . The migrants were descended from settlers from western mainland Europe, most notably from the Netherlands, northwest Germany and French Huguenots...
) and the outbreak of the Cape Frontier Wars of (1834–1835) created by incursions of Bantu
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
-speaking Xhosa peoples. He drove back the invaders and annexed the territory between the Keiskamma and Great Kei
Great Kei River
The Great Kei River is a river in South Africa in the Eastern Cape province. Before it becomes the Great Kei, the Swart-Kei River and the Wit-Kei River join forces, northeast of Cathcart. It flows for 520 km and ends at the Indian Ocean with the small town Kei Mouth on the west bank...
(Groot-Kei) rivers.
He was in office when Britain abolished slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, established municipal and legislative councils, occupied Natal, now KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....
, and named it as a new colony for the British Empire. To commemorate this the name of the principal port was changed in 1835 from Port Natal to Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
.
Trouble
Although d'Urban was popular with the white colonists, his treatment of the Africans disturbed John PhilipJohn Philip (missionary)
Dr John Philip , was a missionary in South Africa. Philip was born at Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland to a local schoolmaster...
who went to England to give evidence before a parliamentary committee and aroused public opinion against d'Urban. The public outcry influenced Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg
Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg
Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg PC FRS was a Scottish politician and colonial administrator.-Background and education:...
, the colonial secretary. In a despatch dated May 1, 1837, Glenelg dismissed D'Urban, who remained governor until the arrival of his successor in January 1838 and continued in his military capacity in South Africa until 1846.
Later career
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
offered him by Sir Robert Peel
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...
.
In January 1847 he accepted appointment as commander of Her Majesty's forces in British North America
British North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...
. There were border disputes and a threat of invasion by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
into Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
near Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. Early in 1847 he set up his headquarters in Montreal.
He remained in Montreal until his death in 1849. He was originally buried at the Papineau military cemetery in Montreal. However, the graves had to be moved because they were in the way of building a new access ramp to the Jacques-Cartier bridge. Sir Benjamin d'Urban's remains now rest at the Last Post Fund National Field of Honour, a military cemetery owned by the Last Post Fund in Pointe-Claire where there is an obelisk to his memory. On the obelisk, there are four plaques: a memorial plaque from the officers of the British Army serving in Canada, a second memorial plaque donated by the City of Durban, one explaining the exhumation and reburial by the Last Post Fund, and one explaining the reburial of the other remains in D'Urban Circle.