Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 25.djvu/190

H 1745–6, and was afterwards some years in Ireland with the 27th, in which he became major in 1750, and lieutenant-colonel in 1752. In 1757 he took the regiment out to America. He commanded at Fort Edward during the winter of 1757–8 (, ii. chap. i.), and was with Abercromby at Ticonderoga in 1758, and in various operations under Amherst in 1759–60. In the latter year he commanded a force of 3,400 men, including provincials and Indians, despatched from Crown Point to force a way by Lake Champlain, which was defended by a strong French post at Isle aux Noix, and to effect a junction with the armies under Murray and Amherst converging on Montreal, a service successfully accomplished (ib. pp. 361–82). Haviland possessed considerable mechanical genius, and was the inventor of a species of pontoon for passing rapids. His fertility of resource is said to have largely contributed to the success of the difficult operations in which he was employed. After the fall of Montreal he went to the West Indies, and was second in command at the reduction of Martinique, and commanded a brigade at the rich conquest of Havana in 1762. He became a major-general, and in 1767 was appointed colonel 45th foot. He became lieutenant-general in 1772, and general in 1783. During the American war of independence he held command at Whitehaven for a short time, and in 1779, during the alarms of a French invasion, he was appointed to command the western district, with headquarters at Plymouth.

Haviland married, first, Caroline, daughter of Colonel Francis and Lady Elizabeth Lee, and granddaughter of the first Earl of Lichfield; she died in Ireland in 1751, having had no issue; secondly, Salusbury, daughter of Thomas Aston of Beaulieu, county Louth, by whom he had a son, Colonel Thomas Haviland of Penn, who died in 1793, and a daughter. Haviland, whose seat was Penn, in Burnham parish, Buckinghamshire, was a near neighbour and intimate personal friend of Burke, with whose family he was connected through his second marriage. As general commanding the western district he was remarked for his openhanded hospitality to officers of both services, and he died comparatively poor at Penn on 16 Sept. 1784. There is a mural tablet to his memory at Burnham parish church. 

HAVILLAND, THOMAS FIOTT (1775–1866), lieutenant-colonel, eldest son of Sir Peter de Havilland (d. 1821), knight, of Havilland Hall, Guernsey, by his wife Cartaretta, daughter and heiress of the Rev. Thomas Fiott, was born at Havilland in April 1775. In 1793 he obtained a Madras cadetship, and on 3 May 1793 was appointed ensign in the Madras engineers (pioneers). His subsequent commissions were: lieutenant 1796, captain 1806, major 1815, lieutenant-colonel 1824. He served at the siege of Pondicherry in 1793, and at the reduction of Ceylon in 1795–6; he marched with Colonel Browne's force (four thousand men) from Trichinopoly to assist in the operations against Tippoo Sahib in 1799, and accompanied Baird's troops up the Red Sea to Egypt in 1801. On his return he was captured by a French cruiser, but was speedily released. He served with his corps until 1812, when he returned home on furlough, and was commissioned to build the Jeybourg barracks, Guernsey. In 1814 he was appointed civil engineer and architect for the Madras presidency, an appointment he held until his retirement from the service (after his father's death), 20 April 1825.

He was an officer of much zeal, ability, and originality. When stationed at Seringapatam, where he erected some important military works, he proposed to bridge the Cauvery with five brick arches of 110 feet span and only eleven feet rise, a very bold conception for that day. The authorities scouted the idea, and to prove its feasibility De Havilland erected a similar arch in his garden, which is still standing. He attempted to determine the mean sea level at Madras from daily observations extending over six months, and a datum line, known as ‘De Havilland's benchmark,’ may yet be seen on a stone let into the wall of Fort St. George. He constructed the Mount road, and built the bulwark or old sea wall of Madras. In 1822 he wrote a report on Indian limestones, and recommended that collectors should be instructed to forward specimens of limestones from their several districts for analysis and comparison of the structural values. He built the cathedral and St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Madras, the latter considered one of the handsomest European structures in India. He recommended the survey of the Panjam passage for the improvement of the port, a work carried out by one of his subalterns, the present General Sir Arthur Cotton.

After his retirement De Havilland devoted