Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 54.djvu/373

 Mountjoy married Mary Coote, daughter of the first Lord Colooney. By her he had several children, of whom the eldest son, William, succeeded him as second Viscount Mountjoy (see, Peerage, vi. 253–4). Clarendon, who was of the same political school, gives Mountjoy a high character (Correspondence, ii. 241, 251); and Avaux, who had no prejudices, calls him ‘bon officier et homme d'esprit.’

[Lodge's Irish Peerage, ed. Archdall, vol. vi.; Lascelles's Liber Munerum Publicorum Hiberniæ; King's State of the Protestants under James II; Négociations de M. le Comte d'Avaux en Irlande; Burnet's Own Time; Macaulay's Hist. of England, chapters xii. and xix.] 

STEWART, WILLIAM (1774–1827), lieutenant-general, born on 10 Jan. 1774, was second son of John, seventh earl of Galloway, by Anne, daughter of Sir James Dashwood, bart. Charles James Stewart [q. v.] was his younger brother. William received a commission as ensign in the 42nd foot on 8 March 1786, became lieutenant in the 67th foot on 14 Oct. 1787, and captain of an independent company on 24 Jan. 1791. In that year he went with Sir Robert Murray Keith [q. v.] to Vienna and to the congress of Sistova. His company was disbanded in December, and he was appointed to the 22nd foot on 31 Oct. 1792. He served with that regiment in the West Indies in 1793–4, and commanded a company in the grenadier battalion at the capture of Martinique and Guadaloupe. He was wounded in the unsuccessful attempt on Point-à-Pitre on 2 July 1794, when Guadaloupe had been recovered by the French. He returned to England in November, and obtained a majority in the 31st foot.

He was made lieutenant-colonel in the army and assistant adjutant-general to Lord Moira's corps on 14 Jan. 1795, and in June he served on the staff of the expedition to Quiberon. On 1 Sept. he was given command of the 67th foot, and went with it to San Domingo. He was commandant at Mole St. Nicholas, with the local rank of colonel, till it was handed over to Toussaint l'Ouverture in August 1798. Returning to Europe, he obtained leave to serve with the Austrian and Russian armies in the campaign of 1799, and was at the battle of Zurich.

It was probably what he saw of Croats and Tyrolese in this campaign that led him to propose, in concert with Colonel Coote Manningham, that there should be a corps of riflemen in the British army. The proposal was adopted, and an experimental ‘corps of riflemen’ was formed in January 1800 by detachments from fourteen regiments. This was brought into the line two years afterwards as the 95th, and eventually became the rifle brigade. Manningham was colonel and Stewart lieutenant-colonel of it, his commission being dated 25 Aug. 1800. The organisation and training of the corps fell to Stewart, for Manningham was equerry to the king. The standing orders show how much he was in advance of most soldiers of his time. Medals for good conduct and for valour, lectures, school, library, classification in shooting, and athletic exercises were among the means adopted to heighten the efficiency of the corps. He preferred Irish recruits, as ‘perhaps, from being less spoiled and more hardy than British soldiers, better calculated for light troops.’ Charles James Napier [q. v.] was a subaltern in the corps in 1802, and wrote of Stewart as open-hearted and honourable in the highest degree, but with much passion, much zeal, and not the least judgment (Life and Opinions, i. 25–9).

In August 1800 Stewart went with three companies of his rifles to Ferrol in Pulteney's expedition, and was dangerously wounded in the first skirmish. He commanded the troops which served as marines in the fleet sent to the Baltic in 1801. He was himself on board Nelson's flagship at Copenhagen, and wrote the best account of the battle (in and  Life of Nelson. The journal on which it was based is in the Cumloden Papers). Nelson wrote of him to St. Vincent as ‘the rising hope of our army,’ and there was a cordial and lasting friendship between them. By Nelson's wish Stewart's first son was named Horatio. Stewart was included in the vote of thanks of parliament, and was made colonel from 2 April.

In 1804 he was appointed brigadier of volunteers in the eastern counties, and in 1805 he published ‘Outlines of a Plan for the general Reform of the British Land Forces,’ in which he recommended for general adoption many of the institutions which he had already introduced into his own corps. In December 1806 he took command of a brigade in Sicily, and three months afterwards went on to Egypt with Fraser's expedition. On 3 April he was sent to Rosetta with 2,500 men to avenge Wauchope's repulse. Though a most ardent soldier, he was afraid of responsibility; he wished that the command had devolved on some one else, and felt ‘a sort of inward presentiment that matters would not go well.’ In his first reconnaissance he received a bullet-wound in the arm. He invested the town and made batteries, but did not risk an assault. On the 21st the Turks