Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Maitland, Peregrine
MAITLAND, Sir PEREGRINE (1777–1854), general and colonial governor, son of Thomas Maitland of Shrubs Hall, New Forest, by Caroline, daughter of George Dewar (who had married a daughter of Peregrine Bertie, second duke of Ancaster), was born at Longparish House, Hampshire, in 1777.
On 25 June 1792 he was appointed ensign in the 1st foot-guards (grenadier guards), in which he became lieutenant and captain in 1794, and captain and lieutenant-colonel in 1803. He served with his regiment in Flanders in 1794, in the unsuccessful descent on Ostend in 1798, at Vigo and Corunna in 1809 (medal), and afterwards at Walcheren. He became brevet colonel in 1812, served with his regiment at Cadiz, and was second in command in the attack on Seville (see Gurwood, vi. 75), commanded the 1st brigade of guards at the passage of Bidassoa, at the battle of Nivelle, and at the passage of the Nive, on 9–12 Dec. 1813 (gold medal), also at the operations before Bayonne, at the action of Bidart, and the passage of the Adour; he became a major-general in 1814, and was made C.B. on 4 June 1815. He commanded the 1st brigade of guards, consisting of the 1st and 3rd battalions grenadier guards, each one thousand strong, at Quatrebras and Waterloo, and at the occupation of Paris (K.C.B. and medal) (ib. viii. 147, 150). He received the foreign decorations of the third class of St. Vladimir of Russia and of Willem in Holland for the Waterloo campaign.
Maitland was lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada from 3 June 1818 to 1828, lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia from 1828 to 1834, commander-in-chief of the Madras army from 11 Oct. 1836 until succeeded by Sir Jasper Nicolls at Christmas 1838. He resigned from dislike of the East India Company's failure to enforce its order exempting native Christians from compulsory attendance at native religious festivals. Governor and commander-in-chief at the Cape of Good Hope from 18 March 1844 to 27 Jan. 1847, he was replaced by Sir Henry Eldred Pottinger [q.v.] . The Kaffir war of 1846–7 began during his government.
Maitland became a full general in 1846. He was colonel in succession of the 76th and 17th regiments, and was made a G.C.B. in 1852. He died at his residence, Eaton Place West, London, on 30 May 1854. He married, first, in 1803 the Hon. Harriet Louisa Crofton, daughter of Baroness Crofton and Sir Edward Crofton, bart., M.P. (she died in 1805); secondly, in 1815, at the Duke of Wellington's headquarters during the occupation of Paris, Lady Sarah Lennox, daughter of Charles Lennox, fourth duke of Richmond [q. v.], who survived her husband, and died, leaving issue, 8 Sept. 1873.
[Hamilton's Hist. Grenadier Guards, vols. ii. and iii.; Gronow's Recollections; Narrative of Events connected with the Kaffir War of 1846–7, Graham's Town, 1848; Mrs. Ward's Five Years in Kaffirland, London, 1850; Gent. Mag. 1854, pt. ii. 300; papers relating to Maitland's colonial governments in the Record Office, London; Notes and Queries, 9th ser. v. 525.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.190–191
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 367 | ii | 16 | Maitland, Sir Peregrine: for Caroline, daughter of George Dewar read Jane, daughter of General Mathew of Clanville, Hampshire |
| 17 | for a daughter read Lady Jane, third daughter | ||
| 18 | for Ancaster read Ancaster and Kesteven | ||
| 19 | for in 1777 read 6 July 1777 | ||
| 32 | after the passage of insert Bidassoa, at the battle of Nivelle and at the passage of | ||
| 33 | after (gold medal), insert also at the operations before Bayonne, at the action of Bidart, and the passage of the Adour, | ||
| 12 f.e. | for and governor read He resigned on account of his aversion to the official countenance given to heathen religious festivals. He was governor | ||
| 367 | ii | 10-9 f.e. | Maitland, Sir Peregrine: for from December . . . . 1846, read from 18 March 1844 to 27 Jan. 1847, |
| 368 | i | 4 | after secondly insert in 1815 |