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DOUGLAS, SIR HOWARD

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 446 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DOUGLAS, See also:SIR See also:HOWARD , See also:Bart. (1776-1861), See also:British See also:general, younger son of See also:Admiral Sir See also:Charles Douglas, was See also:born at See also:Gosport in 1776, and entered the Royal Military See also:Academy in 1790. He was commissioned second See also:lieutenant in the Royal See also:Artillery in 1794, becoming first lieutenant a few months later. In 1795 he was shipwrecked while in See also:charge of a draft for See also:Canada, and lived with his men for a whole See also:winter on the Labrador See also:coast. Soon after his return to See also:England in 1799 he was made a See also:captain-lieutenant, and in the same See also:year he married. In his regimental service during the next few years, he was attached to all branches of the artillery in See also:succession, becoming captain in 1804, after which he was placed on See also:half-pay to serve at the Royal Military See also:College. Douglas was at this See also:time (1804) appointed to a See also:majority in the See also:York Rangers, a See also:corps immediately afterwards reduced, and he remained on the See also:roll of its See also:officers until promoted See also:major-general. The See also:senior See also:department of the R.M.C. at High See also:Wycombe, of which he was in charge, was the forerunner of the See also:Staff College. Douglas, since 18o6 a See also:brevet lieutenant-See also:colonel, served in 1808–1809 in the See also:Peninsula and was See also:present at See also:Corunna, after which he took See also:part in the Walcheren expedition. In 1809 he succeeded to the baronetcy on the See also:death of his half-See also:brother, See also:Vice-admiral Sir See also:William See also:Henry Douglas. In 1812 he was employed in See also:special See also:missions in the See also:north of See also:Spain, and took part in numerous See also:minor operations in this region, but he was soon recalled, the See also:home See also:government deeming his services indispensable to the Royal Military College. He became brevet colonel in 1814 and C.B. in 1815.

In 1816 appeared his See also:

Essay on the Principles and Construction of Military See also:Bridges (subsequent See also:editions 1832, 1853) ; in 1819, Observations on the Motives, Errors and Tendency of M. See also:Carnot's See also:System of See also:Defence, and in the following year his See also:Treatise on See also:Naval Gunnery (of which numerous editions and See also:translations appeared up to the general introduction of rifled See also:ordnance). In 1821 he was promoted major-general. Douglas's criticisms of Carnot led to an important experiment being carried out at See also:Woolwich in 1822, and his Naval Gunnery became a See also:standard See also:text-See also:book, and indeed first See also:drew See also:attention to the subject of which it treated. From 1823 to 1831 Sir Howard Douglas was See also:governor of New See also:Brunswick, and, while there, he had to See also:deal with the See also:Maine boundary dispute of 1828. He also founded See also:Fredericton College, of which he was the first See also:chancellor. On his return to See also:Europe he was employed in various missions, and he published about this time Naval Evolutions, a controversial See also:work dealing with the question of " breaking the See also:line " (See also:London, 1832). From 1835 to 1840 Douglas, now a G.C.M.G., was See also:lord high See also:commissioner of the Ionian Islands, where, amongst other reforms, he introduced a new See also:code of See also:laws. In 1837 he became a lieutenant-general, in 184o a K.C.B., in 1841 a See also:civil G.C.B., and in 1851 a general. From 1842 to 1847 Douglas sat in See also:parliament, where he took a prominent part in debates on military and naval matters and on the See also:corn laws. He was frequently consulted on important military questions. His later See also:works included Observations on the See also:Modern System of Fortification, &c.

(London, 1859), and Naval Warfare Under See also:

Steam (London, 1858 and 186o). He died on the 9th of See also:November 1861 at Tunbridge See also:Wells. Sir Howard Douglas was a F.R.S., one of the founders of the R.G.S., and an honorary D.C.L. of See also:Oxford University. Shortly before his death he declined the offer of a military G.C.B. See S. W. Fullom, See also:Life of Sir Howard Douglas (London, 1862), and See also:Gentleman's See also:Magazine, 3rd See also:series, xii. 90-92.

End of Article: DOUGLAS, SIR HOWARD

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