Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/32

Rh depots of stores, each in charge of a ‘reserve commissary,’ at Croydon, Leatherhead, Guildford, Farningham, and Rochester. In 1799 the post of commissary-general in England was created or restored for the benefit of Sir Brook Watson, and Le Mesurier, holding that he was thereby placed in a secondary position contrary to express stipulation, entered into a spirited controversy with the authorities, which ended in his resignation in June 1800. All the officers employed under him were soon after reduced, and a totally different system introduced. When the Addington administration took office in March 1801, Le Mesurier was reinstated, and was sent to Egypt, to superintend the commissariat arrangements of the army returning from that country, which involved a subsequent extension of his service in Malta, Naples, and elsewhere at the peace of Amiens.

Le Mesurier was surviving partner of the firm at his death, which took place in Great George Street, Westminster, 5 March 1806. He married in 1782 Miss Eliza Dobrée of Guernsey, and by her had four sons and one daughter.

Le Mesurier was author of a pamphlet on ‘Commissariat Duties in the Field,’ published in 1796; of the ‘British Commissary’ (London, 2 vols. 1798), a work dedicated to Count Walmoden and General Dundas, which went through several editions; of ‘Thoughts on a French Invasion’ (London, 1798), which also went through several editions; and of ‘Two Letters to the Commissioners of Military Accounts,’ exposing commissariat abuses.

(1755–1805), lord mayor of London, brother of the above, born in Guernsey 23 Feb. 1755, entered in 1776 into partnership with Nicholas Le Cras, a merchant of Walbrook, London, and was well known as a prize agent during the American war. In 1780 he joined the first voluntary military association formed in England, and rose to be colonel of the Honourable Artillery Company in 1794. As a proprietor of the East India Company he was so active in his opposition to Fox's India Bill of 1783 that he was appointed a director, and was elected M.P. for Southwark at the election which followed the defeat of Fox's measure. He became alderman of Dowgate Ward in October 1784, was sheriff in 1787, and lord mayor in 1794. His hospitality in the latter office, always very liberal, was shown to greatest advantage at his entertainment of Cornwallis, the governor-general of India, when presented with the freedom of the city in December 1794. Le Mesurier died 9 Dec. 1805, and was buried in the churchyard of Christ Church, Spitalfields. He married in 1776 Mary Roberdean of Homerton, by whom he left a son and three daughters (Gent. Mag. 1806, pt. i. pp. 84–6). 

LE MESURIER, HAVILLAND (1783–1813), lieutenant-colonel, son of Havilland Le Mesurier [q. v.], commissary-general, was originally intended for a partnership in his father's house of business. He was educated at a school at Salisbury, and afterwards at Westminster, and early in 1800 was sent to Berlin to learn German. There he acquired military tastes, and in January 1801 an ensigncy was obtained for him in the royal staff corps. He was subsequently promoted to a lieutenancy in one of the limited-service companies added to the 20th foot, but the company was reduced at the peace of Amiens, and Le Mesurier, who had been with his father in Egypt and Italy, was appointed lieutenant 83rd foot. In August 1803 he entered the senior department of the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, and was sent to reside at Kiel in Holstein to improve himself in German. On 25 Aug. 1804 he was promoted captain 21st fusiliers, and, after passing a distinguished examination at High Wycombe, was employed on the quartermaster-general's staff in Kent and Sussex. He was a deputy-assistant quartermaster-general under Sir John Moore in Sweden and at Corunna. Returning to the Peninsula in April 1809, he was appointed by Marshal Beresford a supernumerary lieutenant-colonel in the 14th (Algarves) Portuguese infantry. The regiment was at Chaves, in a wretched state, the officers old and inefficient, and from two hundred to four hundred of the men constantly sick. Provisions were scarce and very high-priced, and not another English officer was within fifty miles of the place. Le Mesurier succeeded to the command, acquired the confidence of the officers and men alike, and brought the regiment into excellent order. He was appointed Portuguese military secretary to Lord Wellington in April 1811, and was present in that capacity at the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro, 5 May 1811, but soon resigned his post and returned to his regiment. On 3 Oct. 1811 he became a brevet lieutenant-colonel in the British service, and was appointed commandant of the frontier fortress of Almeida, where he displayed much skill and activity in bringing the defences and the garrison into a state of efficiency. On government land and on the government account he raised corn enough for the maintenance of the garrison of Almeida within range of its guns, and with the fatigue labour