Gen. Sir Eyre Coote, Kt., Gov. of Jamaica

Eyre Coote (20 May 1762 – 10 December 1823) (General Sir Eyre Coote until 1816; GCB 1815 - 1816) was a British soldier and politician who was born in Ireland.

He was the second son of the Very Rev. Charles Coote (1713 - 12 February 1776), DD, Dean of Kilfenora and wife (m. 31 July 1753) Grace Tilson (- 1 January 1767), brother of Charles Henry Coote (1754–1823), who succeeded the last Earl of Mountrath as 2nd Baron Castle Coote in 1802, and nephew of Sir Eyre Coote, KB, the celebrated Indian General, to whose vast estates in England and Ireland he eventually succeeded.

Following studies at Eton and Trinity College Dublin, Coote purchased a commission in the 34th Regiment of Foot - of which his uncle was colonel - in 1774. He soon found himself bound for North America to fight in the Revolutionary War, seeing action in Brooklyn in August 1776, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth Court House before finally being taken prisoner at the final Battle of Yorktown in 1781. Between 1790 and 1798, he represented Ballynakill in the Irish House of Commons. Subsequently he sat for Maryborough until 1800.

He served in England and Ireland when they were threatened by French invasion and against the French on the Continent. He went on to serve in Holland, Egypt and eventually became Governor-General of Jamaica (1806–1808) where he possibly sired an ancestor of Colin Powell. ( [Eyre Coote (British Army officer) Wikipedia] ).

Other References

• Burke, Bernard, Sir. A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland 6th ed. London : Harrison 1879. Vol I. page 366