Robert Barton (British Army officer)

Barton was the fifth son of William Barton of the Grove, County Tipperary, Ireland, and Grace Massy, daughter of Charles Massy, Dean of Limerick.[2] Being in the south of France in 1790, he, like other British there, enrolled himself as a volunteer in the national guard, and received the thanks of the National Convention for his conduct at Moissac during the disorders at Montauban. He was the younger brother of Lieutenant-General Charles Barton and Thomas Barton, M.P..

Having returned to England he obtained a commission in the 11th Light Dragoons, with which he served under the Duke of York in 1795, and again during the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in 1799, where he received the thanks of Sir Ralph Abercromby for his services on 8 September at Oude Carspel. Barton used his money to support boxers from Ireland although he was a supporter of Britain. He became lieutenant-colonel in the 2nd Life Guards in 1805, and commanded the regiment at the time of the Burdett riots in 1810, when the life guards acquired so much unpopularity.[3] He also commanded the two squadrons of the regiment subsequently sent to the Iberian peninsula during the Peninsular War, where he served for a time. He was promoted to general's rank in 1819, and was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order and Knight Bachelor in 1837.

Barton married firstly to Maria Painter, daughter of John Painter. They had a son, Hugh, and two daughters, Grace and Maria. He married secondly to Marianne Colette Addison, widow of Colonel John MacPherson of Pitmain, great-granddaughter of Archbishop Smith, and had a third daughter, Alexandrina Charlotte, who married Sir Henry Josias Durrant, 4th Baronet.[2]

He died in London on 17 March 1853.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Barton, Robert". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.