Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 56.djvu/451

 's company of the Coldstreams was given to another officer.

On 11 June 1685 he was appointed by James II lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of fusiliers which was then being formed (now the royal fusiliers). But he surrendered James II's commission ‘as soon as he saw that the army was to be used to set up an arbitrary power’ (Merc. Brit. 23 June 1694). Another was appointed in his place on 1 May 1686. More than six months earlier, on 9 Oct. 1685, he had become colonel of one of the Anglo-Dutch regiments (now the Northumberland fusiliers), which had been brought over to England in July on account of Monmouth's rebellion, and went back to Holland in the autumn.

He was one of the officers who declined to leave the Dutch service at James's summons in March 1688. He was in England at the time, for Luttrell notes in his ‘Diary’ that he ‘is gone into Holland and a privy seal is sent after him’ (i. 434). He and his regiment formed part of the force with which the Prince of Orange landed at Torbay in November. William made him governor of Portsmouth in December, in place of the Duke of Berwick, and colonel of the Coldstream guards on 1 May 1689, in place of Lord Craven. He served under Marlborough in the Netherlands in 1689 as second in command of the English brigade in Waldeck's army, and the Coldstreams won great distinction under him at Walcourt (9 Aug.).

On 20 Dec. 1690 he was promoted major-general. In June 1691 he went to Ireland and served under Godert de Ginkel [q. v.] At Athlone on 30 June he had much to do with the bold determination to storm the town from the riverside; he joined the advance party as a volunteer, and was one of the first men to ford the Shannon. At the battle of Aghrim he commanded the infantry of the right wing in second line, and, when the first attack failed, he led forward the troops by whom the battle was won. At Galway he ‘would needs go as a volunteer, as he usually did when it was not his turn to command,’ in the assault of the outworks, the capture of which was followed by the surrender of the town. In the second siege of Limerick he led the infantry, which crossed the Shannon above the town on 15 Sept., repulsed the Irish attacks, and enabled Ginkel to complete his investment. He was made governor of Limerick after it was taken.

He had been elected to the English House of Commons M.P. for Malmesbury on 30 Jan. 1689, and was returned for Chippenham on 14 Dec. 1691. There is no mention of his speeches in the ‘Parliamentary History,’ but he is said to have ‘asserted with the utmost vigour the rights of his countrymen’ (Merc. Brit. ut supra). This had reference no doubt to the preference shown to foreign officers by William. It was thought that he would follow the example of Charles Trelawny [q. v.], who resigned his regiment at the beginning of 1692, but he did not. On 12 Jan. Marlborough was dismissed, and on the 23rd Tollemache was promoted lieutenant-general in his place.

He served during that year in the Netherlands under William, and after the battle of Steinkirk (3 Aug.) he ‘brought off the British foot by his great conduct’ (, ii. 528). In September he was detached with a force of sixteen thousand men to cover Bruges and Ostend, and to take part in the contemplated siege of Dunkirk. He was made governor of Dixmude. When parliament met in November indignant protests were made against Count Solms's behaviour at Steinkirk [see ], and some members proposed an address to the king asking that Tollemache should be put in his place. But Tollemache's best friends begged the house not to do him such an injury, and the proposal was dropped.

In March 1693 he was transferred from the governorship of Portsmouth to that of the Isle of Wight. He commanded the British infantry in the campaign in the Netherlands of that year, and was in charge of the centre at the battle of Neerwinden (or Landen) on 19 July. At the head of the Coldstreams and fusiliers he for some time repelled the enemies' attempts to force their way over the intrenchments near the village of Neerwinden after the village itself had been taken, and he had a horse killed under him. Charged by William to see to the retreat of the infantry, he brought them off by Dormael to Leuwe, ‘with as much prudence as he had before fought with bravery’ (, Campaign of 1693).

The mishap to the Smyrna merchant fleet in 1693 had caused much discontent, and it was determined that in 1694 better use should be made of the allies' naval superiority. An expedition against Brest was planned at Tollemache's suggestion, according to Burnet, in March, but the ordnance-department and the treasury caused delay in equipping it, and the French fleet got away to the Mediterranean. Russell was ordered to follow it with the best part of the fleet, but it was decided that the Brest expedition should still be carried out. Ten battalions, or about seven thousand men, were allotted to it, and the command of these troops was given to Tollemache (cf., ii. 457–61).