John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton (February 16, 1778 - April 17, 1863), British field marshal, was born at Lyndhurst, Hants and entered the 2Oth (Lancashire Fusiliers) in 1794, winning thereafter every step in his regimental promotion without purchase.

He first saw service in the Helder expedition of 1799, and as a captain he took part in Sir Ralph Abercromby's expedition to Egypt in 1801. He distinguished himself at Maida, and soon afterwards was brought under the notice of Sir John Moore, who obtained a majority for him and made him his military secretary. In this capacity he served through the Corunna campaign, and Sir John Moore's dying request that he should be given a lieutenant-colonelcy was at once complied with. In the summer of 1809 Lieut.-Colonel Colborne was again in the Peninsula, and before taking command of the 66th regiment, he witnessed the defeat of the Spaniards at Ocana.

With the 66th he was present at Busaco and shared in the defence of the lines of Torres Vedras, and next year, after temporarily commanding a brigade with distinction at the battle of Albuera, he was appointed to command the famous 52nd Light Infantry (Oxfordshire and Bucks L.I.) with which corps he is most closely identified. He led it and was very severely wounded at Ciudad Rodrigo (1812), and only rejoined in July 1814. Shortly afterwards be was placed in temporary charge of a brigade of the Light Division which he commanded in the Pyrenees engagements and the battles of Orthes and Toulouse.

At the peace he was made colonel, aide-de-camp to the Prince Regent and K.C.B. In 1815 Colborne and the 52nd at Waterloo played a brilliant part in the repulse of the Old Guard at the close of the day. Promoted major-general in 1825, Colborne was soon afterwards made lieutenant-governor of Guernsey. From 1828 to 1836 served as lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada.

As lieutenant-governor, Colborne more than doubled the population of the province by initiating an organised system of immigration to bring in settlers from Britain. He also aided settlement by expanding the communication and trasportation infrastructure through a campaign to build roads and bridges. In 1829, Colborne founded Upper Canada College as a school based on the elite English public school model.

Colborne was a strong supporter of the Church of England and British traditions and an opponent of responsible government. His policies brought him into conflict with Reformers in Upper Canada and contributed to the Rebellions of 1837 during which he was made commander in chief of the armed forces and acting governor-general of British North America.

Colborne suppressed the rebellion with great violence and, in December 1837, he personally led the assault on St-Eustache in Lower Canada, where many Patriotes were burned to death in a church.

For his services he was rewarded upon returning to Britain by being raised to the peerage as Baron Seaton of Seaton in Devonshire. From 1843 to 1849 he was high commissioner of the Ionian Islands. In 1854 he was promoted full general, and from 1855 to 1860 he was commander-in-chief in Ireland. He died at Torquay on the 17th of April 1863.

See the Life by GC Moore Smith (1906).

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.