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|authorlink=Ernest Marsh Lloyd

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{{Infobox military person
| name = Sir John Rowland Smyth
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = 1803<ref>{{cite news |title=Sir John R. Smyth |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001646/18730521/070/0003 |accessdate=25 May 2019 |work=Cork Constitution |date=21 May 1873 |page=3 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
| birth_place = County Waterford, [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Ireland]]
| death_date = 14 May 1873
| death_place =[[Kensington]], London
| allegiance = {{UK}}
| branch = [[British Army]]
| serviceyears = 1821 — 1873
| rank = [[Colonel (United Kingdom)|Colonel]]
| unit = [[16th The Queen's Lancers]] <br/> [[32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot]] <br/> [[Carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards)|6th Dragoon Guards]]
| commands = [[Carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards)|6th Dragoon Guards]]
| battles = [[Siege of Bharatpur]] <br/> [[Battle of Aliwal]]
| awards = [[Order of the Bath|Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
| relations =
| laterwork =
}}
Colonel '''Sir John Rowland Smyth''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KCB}} (1803 — 14 May 1873) was an Anglo-Irish officer in the [[British Army]] who saw service in [[British India]].

==Early life and education==
Smyth was born at Ballynatray House, Templemichael, [[County Waterford]], the fifth and youngest son of Grice Smyth and his wife, Mary Brodrick Mitchell.<ref name="burke">{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Bernard |title=A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland |date=1879 |publisher=London, Harrison |page=[https://archive.org/details/genealogicalhera02byuburk/page/1486 1486] |url=https://archive.org/details/genealogicalhera02byuburk |accessdate=25 May 2019}}</ref> He was educated at [[Trinity College, Dublin]].

He had three sisters, including Gertrude, who married [[William Hughes, 1st Baron Dinorben]], and Penelope, who eloped with HRH [[Charles Ferdinand, Prince of Capua]].<ref name="burke"/>

==Career==
Smyth was commissioned as a [[Cornet (military rank)|cornet]] into the on 5 July 1821 and, promoted to Lieutenant on 26 May 1825, he fought at the [[Siege of Bharatpur|Capture of Bharatpur]] later that year. He was made a Captain on 22 April 1826, and transferred to the [[32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot]]. After 10 years with the 32nd he moved to the [[Carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards)|6th Dragoon Guards]], before being given a year-long leave of absence in 1830 to serve a prison sentence. Smyth had fought one of the last duels in the United Kingdom, and both he and his second, Capt. Frederick Markham, were imprisoned for manslaughter in the death of Standish Stanley O'Grady on 18 March 1830 in Ireland.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Late Fatal Duel in Ireland |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/18300331/006/0003 |accessdate=25 May 2019 |work=[[The Scotsman]] |date=31 March 1830 |page=3 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Promoted to Major on 17 August 1841, he returned to the [[16th Lancers]] on 6 May 1842 and served with it during the [[Gwalior Campaign]] and [[First Anglo-Sikh War]]. At the [[Battle of Aliwal]], Smyth led the 16th Lancers to rout the Sikh cavalry and [[Infantry_square#Breaking_a_square|break a square of infantry]]; he was [[mentioned in dispatches]] and made a [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] Lieutenant-Colonel.

After a series of promotions and successes he was made a [[Order of the Bath|Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] on 13 March 1867, promoted to [[Lieutenant-General (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]] on 1 April 1870, and became Colonel of the 6th Dragoon Guards on 21 January 1868.<ref name = "odnb"/>

He was married to Hon. Catherine Alice Abbott, daughter of [[Charles Abbott, 1st Baron Tenterden|Lord Tenterden]], who survived him following his death on 14 May 1873.<ref name = "odnb">{{cite web|url=http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/25953|title=Oxford DNB article: Smyth, Sir John Rowland (subscription needed)|last=Lloyd|first=E. M. |authorlink=Ernest Marsh Lloyd|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=21 July 2010}}</ref> They had a daughter, Penelope Mary Gertrude, who in 1859 married her cousin [[Charles Abbott, 3rd Baron Tenterden]].<ref name="burke"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smyth, John Rowland}}
[[Category:1803 births]]
[[Category:1873 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin]]
[[Category:Carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards) officers]]
[[Category:Irish duellists]]
[[Category:British people convicted of manslaughter]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Gwalior Campaign]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the First Anglo-Sikh War]]
[[Category:32nd Regiment of Foot officers]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:16th The Queen's Lancers officers]]
[[Category:British Army generals]]

John Rowland Smyth - Revision history

->Moonraker: |authorlink=Ernest Marsh Lloyd