Sir John Braithwaite, 1st Baronet

He was born in South Carolina, the only son of Colonel John Braithwaite (1696-1740), author, soldier and diplomat, and his wife Silvia Cole (1714-1799), daughter of William Cole of Amsterdam. He was only a year old when his father, returning home, was killed when the ship he was travelling on was attacked by a Spanish privateer, "the Biscaya", off the Scilly Isles: he was reported to have been murdered in cold blood after the ship surrendered. His mother remarried Reverend Thomas Winstanley.[1]

Eĺducated at Westminster School, Braithwaite was commissioned as an ensign in the 53rd Regiment of Foot on 6 November 1765.[2] Promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 22 October 1772, he seized the Maharaja of Vizianagram's fort during a local dispute on 28 August 1777.[2] He was then given command of a brigade which included one battalion of Europeans, the 3rd Carnatic Battalion, the 4th Carnatic Battalion and the 20th Carnatic Battalion: with this army he defeated a French force at Mahé in March 1779.[2]

In Summer 1780 Hyder Ali invaded the Carnatic with over 60,000 men precipitating the Second Anglo-Mysore War: he took Braithwaite prisoner at Seringapatam in February 1782 and held him captive for two years.[2] Braithwaite became acting Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army in August 1792, conducting the successful Siege of Pondicherry in 1793 and remained in that role until 1796.[2]

Braithwaite was adjutant-general of the force that defeated Tipu Sultan at the Siege of Seringapatam in April 1799 so concluding the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.[2] He became Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army in January 1800[3] and, after retiring in 1801, he was created a Baronet on 18 December 1802[4] and died at his home in London in August 1803.[2]

He married Elizabeth Brown, daughter of John Brown and Elizabeth Colleton, daughter of Sir John Colleton, 3rd Baronet, and had one surviving son George-Charles, second and last Baronet, and a daughter Sylvia, who married Charles Parkhurst.[5]