Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake

Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake ( born July 27, 1744 Harrow, Middlesex, † February 20, 1808 in London) was a British general, civil servant and politician.

Life

Gerard Lake was born as the son of Launcelot Charles Lake and Laetitia Gumley and entered at an early age in 1758 in the British Army. There he served in the Foot Guards, the Guards infantry. 1760-1762 he fought in the Seven Years' War in Germany and in 1781 he participated in the Battle of Yorktown in the American Revolutionary War. In 1790 he was appointed major general and led the Guards Brigade 1793 in the army of Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany, against the French revolutionary troops in Flanders.

In Irish rebellion of 1798, he managed to contribute with a heavy hand to suppress the uprising. In the Battle of Vinegar Hill in Wexford (Southeast Ireland) he was decisively defeated with about 10,000 men, the 20,000 -strong rebel army as a military leader. A setback he suffered when he tried with 6,000 men in the same year, to overwhelm a French- Irish landing force of 2,000 men. The British were surprised at the Battle of Castlebar by the numerically inferior opponents and there was a panicked flight of the British, in general also lost his personal luggage. The defeat, however, remained without consequences because the opponents were finally defeated a few weeks later.

1799 Lake was commander in chief of the British forces in India. Thanks to its reorganization in 1803, he managed to beat at the outbreak of the Second Marathenkriegs, in quick succession, the Indians at Aligarh to conquer the cities of Delhi and Agra, and finally to win a decisive victory in the Battle of Laswari. For his achievements and successes in India Lake 1804 Peer was charged. Three years later, the collection was followed by Viscount Lake.

In addition to his military career, he was from 1790 to 1802 member of the House of Commons for the constituency of Aylesbury. From 1807 he was governor of Plymouth.

Gerard Lake was married since June 26, 1770 Elizabeth Barker, with whom he had three sons and five daughters. He died at the age of 63 years in the Lower Brook Street in Mayfair, London, from the effects of a cold. His title passed to the eldest son.