Combermere, VISCOUNT

Combermere, VISCOUNT (Stapleton Stapleton-Cotton), a British field-marshal, son of Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton, Bart., of Combermere Abbey, Cheshire, was born in 1772 at Llewenny Hall, Denbighshire. Educated at Westminster School, he entered the army in 1790, and in 1794 was made lieutenant-colonel of a new regiment of light dragoons, with whom he served in India for several years. In 1808 he proceeded, with the rank of major-general, to the Peninsula; in 1809 he succeeded to the baronetcy; and in 1810 he was appointed to the command of the whole allied cavalry. He was present at the battles of Talavera, Llerena, Salamanca, the Pyrenees, Orthez, and Toulouse, and was raised to the peerage in 1814 as Baron Combermere; although not at Waterloo, he had the command of the cavalry of the army of occupation in France. He was commander of the forces in the West Indies, 1817-20; commander-in-chief in Ireland, 1822-25; and commander of the forces in India, 1825-30, where he captured Bhartpur. Raised to the rank of viscount in 1827, he succeeded Wellington as Constable of the Tower in 1852, and was made a field-marshal in 1855. He died February 21, 1865. See his Correspondence (2 vols. 1866).