Picton

Picton, SIR THOMAS, British general, was born in August 1758, at Poyston in Pembrokeshire, entered the army as ensign in the 12th Foot in 1772, and two years later joined his regiment at Gibraltar. In 1794 he went out to the West Indies, and was given a command under Sir John Vaughan. He took part in the conquest of several islands of the West Indies, including Trinidad, and was appointed (1797) governor of the last named, being shortly afterwards raised to the rank of general. In 1803 he was superseded, but immediately after appointed governor of Tobago. He found it necessary, however, to return to England, to take his trial on a charge of having permitted, under the old Spanish laws, a female prisoner to be tortured. He was found guilty of sanctioning unlawful torture; but on appeal he was in a new trial acquitted. He saw active service again in the Walcheren expedition (1809), and was made governor of Flushing after its capture by the English. Early in the following year he was summoned to Spain, and put in command of the 'Fighting Division,' and with it rendered brilliant service at Busaco, during the subsequent expulsion of the French from Portugal, at Fuentes de Onoro, at the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, at Vittoria and in the battles of the Pyrenees, at Orthez and before Toulouse. Napoleon's escape from Elba once more called Picton into the field; he fought at Quatre Bras and was wounded, but kept the fact hidden that he might not miss the great day he saw coming, and he fell leading his men to the charge at Waterloo, 18th June 1815. See Memoirs of Sir T. Picton, by H. B. Robinson (2 vols. 1835).