Early Life and Service
De Rottenburg was raised in what is now Gdańsk in Poland. He spent almost a decade in the French army which came to an end with the French Revolution. In 1795, de Rottenburg joined the British army, serving in Hompesch's Hussars, a unit of foreign-born troops. This unit later became part of the 5th Battalion of the 60th Regiment of Foot, the first rifle-armed unit of the British Army. De Rottenburg rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the unit, and commanded it during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the capture of Suriname in 1799.
De Rottenburg wrote a series of manuals (initially in German) which became the basis for the training of riflemen and light infantry under Sir John Moore. He later commanded a brigade of light troops in the Walcheren Campaign.
Read more about this topic: Francis De Rottenburg
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or service:
“They circumcised women, little girls, in Jesus’s time. Did he know? Did the subject anger or embarrass him? Did the early church erase the record? Jesus himself was circumcised; perhaps he thought only the cutting done to him was done to women, and therefore, since he survived, it was all right.”
—Alice Walker (b. 1944)
“The writing career is not a romantic one. The writer’s life may be colorful, but his work itself is rather drab.”
—Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958)
“Let not the tie be mercenary, though the service is measured in money. Make yourself necessary to somebody. Do not make life hard to any.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)