Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 31.djvu/418

 lieutenant-colonel he went out with drafts to America in the spring of 1781, made the campaign in North Carolina under Lord Cornwallis [see, first ], and commanded the grenadiers of the guards and of the old 80th royal Edinburgh regiment in a sortie, under Colonel Robert Abercromby, from the British lines at York Town, which inflicted heavy loss on the French and American besiegers, on 11 Oct. that year. After the surrender of Cornwallis's force (17 Oct.), Lake remained prisoner on parole until the end of the war (, ii. 252–8). On the first formation of a separate household for the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV [q. v.], Lake was appointed his gentleman-attendant, and afterwards first equerry and chief commissioner of the stables. Wraxall speaks of him as a ‘pleasing exception’ to the prince's list of undesirable companions (Memoirs, v. 383). Lake was a member of the suite up to his death, but had apparently little to do with the prince. His younger brother, Warwick Lake, a commissioner of stamps and gentleman of the bedchamber, who died in 1821 (Gent. Mag. xci. pt. i. p. 188), was the prince's adviser in racing, and was much mixed up with his unfortunate transactions with the Jockey Club (for details see, Hist. British Turf, i. 64–85).

Lake represented Aylesbury in the House of Commons from 1790 to 1802. War was declared by the French on 1 Feb. 1793, and on 26 Feb. Lake embarked in command of a brigade composed of the first battalions of the three regiments of foot-guards, which reached Helvoetsluys on 1 March, and after some desultory operations joined the allied armies at Tournay on 23 April. These battalions, the first British troops actually engaged in the war, were present in the affairs at St.-Amand and Famars, and at the siege of Valenciennes. During the siege, on 18 Aug. 1793, the Prince of Orange was driven out of some forts which he had captured near Lille by a French force, with the loss of six pieces of cannon. The English guards were sent to the rescue. Unable to rally the Dutch, Lake promptly decided to attack the works single-handed. He carried them at the point of the bayonet, driving out the French, who confessed to twelve battalions present, and taking twelve guns, including the six left behind by the Dutch. The French were raw troops, whom the guardsmen hustled and cuffed ‘like a London mob’ (, ii. 286), but Lake's brigade lost 38 killed and 143 wounded out of 1,122 of all ranks. The action, which is inscribed on the colours of the three regiments of guards, was spoken of at the time as the most brilliant affair of the year. When the Duke of York retired from Valenciennes towards Dunkirk, Lake's brigade did good service in covering the rear. In September he had a dangerous illness, and was sent home the month after, ‘to the regret of the whole army, in which he was universally respected and beloved’ (ib. ii. 289). He rejoined the Duke of York's army at Cateau in the following spring, but went home again at the end of April 1794, and was not employed on the continent afterwards. He had by this time sold his regimental lieutenant-colonelcy in the 1st guards, and had been appointed colonel 53rd foot, from which he was subsequently transferred to the colonelcy of the 73rd foot. He was also promoted from the lieutenant-governorship of Berwick-on-Tweed to the governorship of Limerick in the same year.

In December 1796 Lake was appointed to the command in Ulster, which he held under Henry Luttrell, lord Carhampton, and Sir Ralph Abercromby [q. v.] as commander-in-chief until April 1798. He became a lieutenant-general in January 1797. He was chiefly engaged during this time in disarming the population and counteracting the plans of the United Irishmen. A number of his autograph letters, addressed to Thomas Pelham, afterwards second earl of Chichester, then Irish secretary, are in Brit. Mus. Addit. MSS. 33102, 33105. His Ulster proclamation of 13 Jan. 1797, requiring all persons other than peace-officers and soldiers to deliver up their arms, was denounced in debates in the Irish and English Houses of Commons, the former led by Henry Grattan [q. v.] and the latter by Charles James Fox [q. v.] When Abercromby, after vainly remonstrating against the license of the troops, resigned in disgust, Lake, as next senior, succeeded as commander-in-chief from 25 April 1798, and he has been accused of making no effort to check military license. On 24 May the rebellion broke out. His most important service was the rout of the rebel forces entrenched on Vinegar Hill, overlooking the town of Enniscorthy, co. Wexford, on 21 June 1798. ‘The carnage was dreadful,’ wrote Lake to Lord Castlereagh; ‘the rascals made a tolerable good fight of it’ (Castlereagh Despatches, i. 224). He marched into Wexford the day after, putting to death all rebels found with arms. He expressed his deep regret at the necessity of making examples (ib. i. 225). Lecky says that his indiscriminating severity wrought much harm (History, viii. 163). Meanwhile Cornwallis had arrived in Dublin on 20 June 1798 as lord-lieutenant and commander-in-chief, and Lake reverted to the