Field Marshal George Wade (1673–March 14, 1748) was a British military commander and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.
Army career
Wade was born in Kilavally, Westmeath,
Ireland. He joined the British Army in 1690 and served in
Flanders in 1692, earning a promotion to Captain. During the
War of the Spanish Succession (1702–13) he first served under
Marlborough, being promoted to major and lieutenant colonel in
1702. In 1704 he was on the staff of Lord Galway, distinguishing himself at
Alcantara and Villa Nova in 1706 and at Almanza in 1707. He was promoted to Brigadier General in
1708. He was second in command to James Stanhope in Minorca in 1708 before returning to Spain in 1710, where at the Battle of Saragossa he earned a promotion to Major
General.
He returned home to attempt politics before becoming involved in the suppression of the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. Wade was sent to inspect Scotland in 1724
by George I. He recommended the construction of barracks, bridges and proper
roads to assist in the control of the region and was appointed Commander in Chief of His Majesty's forces, castles, forts and
barracks in North Britain within a month, tasked with carrying out these recommendations. He occupied this position until
1740. Between 1725 and 1737 Wade directed the construction of some 250 miles of road, plus 40 bridges (including the Tay Bridge
at Aberfeldy). The roads linked the garrisons at Ruthven, Fort George, Fort Augustus, and Fort William. He also organised a
militia named Highland Watches, calling on members of the landed
gentry. The first six companies were raised in 1725 (three of Campbells and one each of Frasers, Grants, and Munros), with four more in 1739, reorganized as the
Black Watch regiment. He still had the time to sign his support to the
Foundling Hospital in London, acting as a founding governor in 1739 of this
politically fashionable charity.
In 1742 Wade was promoted to Lieutenant General and made a privy councillor. In 1743 he was made a Field Marshal and appointed
to joint command of the Anglo-Austrian force in Flanders against the French, leading the British troops under George II at
Dettingen. He resigned from that command in March 1744, returning home to be made
commander-in-chief. When the Jacobites rose again
in 1745 the speed of their advance was beyond Wade. He failed to counter their march into England and was dismissed, Prince William Augustus, Duke of
Cumberland heading the army for the decisive Battle of Culloden.
He was also mentioned in a verse that was added to God Save the Queen around 1745
but was dropped before the song was adopted as the British national anthem towards the end of the eighteenth century.
See also
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