Lt.-Gen. James Dormer

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dormer

James Dormer (1679–1741) was a British Army officer, a lieutenant-general, and colonel of the 1st troop of Horse Grenadier Guards

Life

The son of Robert Dormer (1628?–1689) of Dorton, Buckinghamshire, and his second wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Charles Cotterell, he was born 16 March 1679. He was appointed lieutenant and captain in the 1st Foot Guards 13 June 1700, at which rank he was wounded at the battle of Blenheim, in the War of the Spanish Succession, where his brother Philip was killed.[1][2]

In command of a newly raised corps of Irish foot, Dormer went to Spain, and took part in the Battle of Saragossa. He was taken prisoner with General James Stanhope at Brihuega in December 1710, and was sent home on parole. On the death of Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun in a noted duel with the Duke of Hamilton in 1712, Dormer, who had been exchanged, was appointed colonel of Mohun's regiment, which was disbanded the year after.[1]

In 1715 Dormer was commissioned to raise a regiment of dragoons in the south of England, which became the 14th King's Hussars. He commanded a brigade during the Lancashire Jacobite rising of 1715, and engaged with the rebels at Preston. Transferred to the colonelcy of the 6th Foot in 1720, he was in June 1725 sent as envoy extraordinary to Lisbon. There he was in dispute with Thomas Burnett, the British consul.[1]

Dormer was appointed a lieutenant-general and colonel 1st troop of Horse Grenadier Guards in 1737, and Governor of Kingston-upon-Hull in 1740. He died at Crendon, Buckinghamshire, 24 December 1741. A member of the Kit-Cat Club, he collected a fine library, and is said to have been an acquaintance of Jonathan Swift. He was unmarried, and bequeathed the Chearsley and Rousham estates to his cousin Clement Cottrell-Dormer.[1][2]

Notes

• 1. Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888). "Dormer, James". Dictionary of National Biography. 15. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• 2. Spain, Jonathan. "Dormer, James". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7835. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Attribution

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888). "Dormer, James". Dictionary of National Biography. 15. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dormer,_James_(DNB00)

DORMER, JAMES (1679–1741), lieutenant-general, colonel 1st troop of horse-grenadier guards, son of Robert Dormer of Dorton, Buckinghamshire, who died 1693, by his second wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Charles Cotterell [q. v.], master of the ceremonies to Charles I, Charles II, and James II, and ambassador at Brussels in 1663, was born 16 March 1679.

He was appointed lieutenant and captain 1st foot guards 13 June 1700, in which rank he was wounded at Blenheim, where a brother-officer of the same name and regiment, Lieutenant-colonel Philip Dormer, was killed (Treas. Papers, xciii. 79). In command of a newly raised corps of Irish foot he went to Spain, and distinguished himself at Saragossa in 1709, and was taken prisoner with General Stanhope at Brihuega in Castile in December 1710. He appears to have been awarded 200l. for his losses by pillage at Brihuega and at Bilbao on his way home on parole (ib. cxxxvii. 8).

On the death of Lord Mohun in the notorious duel with the Duke of Hamilton in 1712, Dormer, who had been exchanged, was appointed colonel of Mohun's regiment, which was disbanded the year after. In 1715 he was commissioned to raise a regiment of dragoons in the south of England, which is now the 14th hussars. He commanded a brigade during the Jacobite rising in Lancashire, and was engaged with the rebels at Preston. Transferred to the colonelcy of the 6th foot in 1720, he was in June 1725 sent as envoy extraordinary to Lisbon, where he had a dispute with Thomas Burnett, the British consul (Eg. MS. 921); was appointed a lieutenant-general and colonel 1st troop of horse-grenadier guards in 1737, and governor of Hull in 1740.

He died at Crendon, Buckinghamshire, 24 Dec. 1741. He was a member of the Kit-Cat Club, collected a fine library (Nichols, Lit. Anecd. ii. 658), and appears to have been an acquaintance of Swift (Works, xvii. 338). His christian name is wrongly given by many writers, and Granger in ‘Biog. Hist. Eng.’ (ed. 1806, App. vol. iii.) seems disposed to confuse him with Colonel Charles Dormer, who fell at the head of Lord Essex's dragoons (now the 4th hussars) at the battle of Almanza in 1707. He was unmarried, and bequeathed the Cheasley estate to his cousin Sir Clement Cotterell, knt. (afterwards Cotterell-Dormer), master of the ceremonies to George II.

[Lipscomb's Hist. Buckinghamshire, i. 119 (pedigree); Hamilton's Hist. Grenadier Guards, vol. iii.; Cannon's Hist. Recs. 4th and 14th Light Dragoons (succession of colonels); Cal. Treas. Papers, 1704–9, under ‘James Dormer;’ War Office (Home Office) Mil. Entry Books in Public Record Office, London.]

H. M. C.