Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake: Difference between revisions

| predecessor  = [[William Wrightson]]

In December 1796 he was appointed commander in [[Ulster]] and issued a proclamation ordering the surrender of all arms by the civil population, during which time he was 'untroubled by legal restraints or by his troops' violent actions'.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a4643|title=Lake, Gerard|last=Quinn|first=James|date=2009|website=Dictionary of Irish Biography}}</ref> Historians have generally seen Lake's ''Dragooning of Ulster'' in 1797 as effective in disarming and crippling the [[Society of United Irishmen]] in that province, although his effectiveness has been questioned.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Revolution, Counter-Revolution and Union: Ireland in the 1790s|last=Curtin|first=Nancy J.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2000|isbn=0521661099|editor-last=Smyth|editor-first=Jim|pages=39|chapter=The Magistracy and Counter-Revolution in Ulster, 1795-1798}}</ref> Lake succeeded Sir [[Ralph Abercromby]] as commander-in-chief of British troops in Ireland in April 1798 and turned his attention to Leinster, where 'public floggings and torture of suspected rebels became widespread and added to the general atmosphere of terror'.<ref name=":0" /> Rather than cowing the province into submission, 'his crude methods probably contributed to the outbreak of [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|insurrection]]' in May 1798.<ref name=":0" /> Lake continued to deal harshly with opposition, and issued orders to take no prisoners during the rebellion.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15900|title=Lake, Gerard, first Viscount Lake of Delhi (1744–1808)|last=Bennell|first=Anthony S.|date=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/15900|access-date=25 July 2017}}</ref>

In May Lake commanded troops in [[County Kildare]], and, after the unsuccessful [[Battle of Naas|rebel attack on Naas]] on 24 May, he assisted [[Ralph Dundas|General Ralph Dundas]] in ensuring the rebel surrender after the [[Battle of Kilcullen]], which Dundas arranged on humane terms. Another rebel force on the nearby [[Curragh]] were also persuaded to surrender, but while this was being arranged by Lake the rebels were mistakenly attacked by separate British forces coming from the opposite direction, resulting in the [[Gibbet Rath massacre]] on 29 May. As a result, central Kildare remained quiet for the rest of 1798.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}

Cornwallis sent Lake to oppose a French expedition of 1,000 troops which had landed at [[Killala Bay]], [[County Mayo]] on 23 August. On 29 August, Lake arrived at [[Castlebar]] with a force of 1,700 (composed of mainly of militia, fencibles and yeomanry) and witnessed the rout of his troops under General [[John Hely-Hutchinson, 2nd Earl of Donoughmore|Hely-Hutchinson]] (afterwards 2nd Earl of Donoughmore) at the [[Battle of Castlebar]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a4152|title=Humbert, Jean-Joseph Amable|last=Kleinman|first=Sylvie|date=2012|website=Dictionary of Irish Biography|access-date=26 July 2017}}</ref> Lake failed to rally his largely inexperienced troops and was forced to retreat to Tuam; the speed of which retreat (and abandonment of material) led the incident to become known as the 'Races of Castlebar'. Hely-Hutchinson shouldered much of the blame, but it was accepted that Lake's troops were inexperienced and a head-on battle with the seasoned French force was probably to be avoided.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Military History of Ireland|last=Bartlett|first=Thomas|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1997|isbn=0521629896|editor-last=Bartlett|editor-first=Thomas|pages=286|chapter=Defence,counter-insurgency and rebellion: Ireland, 1793-1803|editor-last2=Jeffery|editor-first2=Keith}}</ref> However, rumours also abounded that Lake had been drinking heavily the night before the battle and was only woken with difficulty while the French were already attacking.<ref name=":0" />

Operations continued against [[Yashwantrao Holkar]], who, on 17 November 1804, was defeated by Lake at the [[Battle of Farrukhabad]]. However, Lake was frustrated by [[Jats]] and Yashwantrao Holker at [[Battle of Bharatpur|Bharatpur]] which held out against five assaults early in 1805.<ref>The fourth assault was on 20 February 1805 with a fifth assault the following day. ''The Gentleman's magazine'' (1805) Volume 75, Part 2, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BOLPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA854 page 854]</ref> Cornwallis succeeded [[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley|Lord Wellesley]] as [[Governor-General of India]] in July of that year – superseding Lake at the same time as commander-in-chief – and determined to put an end to the war.  Cornwallis, however, died in October of the same year and Lake pursued Holkar into the [[Punjab region|Punjab]]. However, after seeing the stronger position of Holkar and his effort to gather all Indian princes under one flag against the British, the British East India Company signed a peace treaty with Holkar which returned to him all his territory and promised no further interference from the Company{{Citation needed|date=March 2014}}.

{{S-bef| before = [[William Wrightson]] <br /> [[Scrope Bernard]] }}