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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: PER-PIG |
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PICTON, SIR . THOMAS (17581815), British general, was the younger son of Thomas Picton, of Poyston, Pembrokeshire, where he was born in August 1758. In 1771 he obtained an ensign 's commission in the 12th regiment of foot, but he did not join until two years afterwards. The regiment was then stationed at Gibraltar, where he remained until he was made captain in the 75th in January 1778, when he returned to England. The regiment was disbanded five years later. On the occasion of its disbandment Picton quelled a mutiny amongst the men by his prompt personal action and courage, and was promised a majority in reward for his conduct. This, however, he did not receive, and after living in retirement on his father's estate for nearly twelve years, he went out to the West Indies in 1794 on the strength of a slight acquaintance with Sir John Vaughan, the commander
chief
governor of the island. He administered the island with such success that the inhabitants petitioned against the retrocession of the island to Spain, and their protest, with Picton's and Abercromby's representations, ensured the retention of Trinidad as a British possession. In October 18or he was gazetted brigadier-general. But by this time the rigour of his government, as reported by his enemies, had led to a demand by humanitarians at home for his removal. Colonel William Fullarton (17541808) procured the appointment of a commission to govern the island, of which he himself was the senior member, Captain (afterwards Admiral Sir Samuel) Hood the second, and Picton himself the junior. Picton there-upon tendered his resignation, and Hood, as soon as the nature of Fullarton's proceedings became obvious, followed his example (1803). On his way home Picton took part with great credit in military operations in St Lucia and Tobago. Realizing, however, that the attacks upon him were increasing in virulence, he quickly returned to England, and in December 1803 he was arrested by order of the privy council. He was tried in the court of king's bench before Lord Ellenborough in 18o6 on a charge of unlawfully applying torture to extort a confession from Luise Calderon, a mulatto woman of loose character who was charged, along with a man, with robbery. The torture consisted in compelling the woman to stand on one leg on a flat-headed peg for one hour. The punishment was ordered under Spanish law (which in default of a fresh code Picton had been appointed to administer in 18o1) by the local alcalde, and approved by Picton. On these grounds the court returned a merely technical verdict of guilty, which was superseded in 18o8 by a special
governor of Flushing during the Walcheren expedition. In 181o, at Wellington's request, he was appointed to command a division in Spain. For the remaining years of the Peninsular War, Picton was one, of Wellington's principal subordinates. The commander
chief
owing partly to his naturally stern and now embittered temper, and partly to the difficult position in which he was placed, was unfortunate. On the Coa in July 1810 Craufurd's division became involved in an action, and Picton, his nearest neighbour, refused to support him, as Wellington's direct orders were to avoid an engagement. Details of the incident will be found in Oman, Peninsular War, vol. iii. Shortly after this, however, at Busaco, Picton found and used his first great opportunity for distinction. Here he had a plain duty, that of repulsing the French attack, and he performed that duty with a skill and resolution which indicated his great powers as a troop-leader. After the winter in the lines of Torres Vedras, he added to his reputation and to that of his division, the 3rd, at Fuentes d'Onor. In September he was given the local rank of lieutenant-general, and in the same month the division won great glory
On the break-up of the division the officers presented Picton with a valuable service of plate, and on the 24th of June 1814 he received for the seventh time the thanks of the House
body
See Robinson's Life of Sir Thomas Picton (London, 1836), with which, however, compare Napier's and Oman's histories of the Peninsular War as to controversial points. End of Article: PICTON, SIR If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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