Francis Slater Rebow

Slater joined the British Army as an ensign in the newly raised 4th Battalion, 60th Regiment of Foot, on 14 November 1787.[4][5] Towards the end of the following year he travelled with his regiment to serve in the West Indies. While there Slater purchased his promotion to lieutenant on 14 October 1789 and captain on 18 September 1792. Subsequent to this the French Revolutionary Wars began, with the 60th still in the West Indies. Slater, in command of the battalion's Grenadier Company, took part in the British expedition that set out to capture French island possessions there.[1][4]

Slater fought at the successful Battle of Martinique between February and March 1794, and on 1 April was present at the capture of Saint Lucia. The expedition moved in the same month to attack Guadeloupe in the Invasion of Guadeloupe. During the initial fighting Slater was seriously wounded through both of his thighs and by the beginning of 1796 he had returned to England.[1][4][6]

In England Slater purchased his promotion to major, staying in the 60th, on 20 February and then on 22 March married Mary Hester Rebow (died 1834) in St Margaret's, Westminster. Rebow was the only child and heir of Colonel Isaac Martin Rebow of Wivenhoe Park; as part of the marriage Slater agreed to adjust his surname, becoming Francis Slater Rebow on 4 April by Royal Licence and taking the Rebow coat of arms as his own.[4][7][5] In return he gained control of the Wivenhoe estate and received a large private income.[5] The couple would go on to have three children together; a son who died in infancy, Mary Emma Rebow (died 1804), and Mary Martin Rebow (died 1842), the latter of whom married Sir Thomas Ormsby.[1][4][5]

Rebow exchanged his commission into the 2nd Life Guards on 16 March 1797, serving in the unit as a supernumerary major.[1][4] Part of the Household Cavalry Brigade, the 2nd Life Guards were a predominantly ceremonial regiment that had last seen active service half a century before at the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745.[8]

Rebow was promoted to the rank of major and lieutenant-colonel[Note 1] on 25 September 1799. When the appointment was announced in The London Gazette on 1 October it mistakenly recorded Rebow as becoming the regiment's second major instead of major and lieutenant-colonel, and this was not noticed. As such Rebow was promoted to lieutenant-colonel a second time on 29 April 1802 with the understanding that he was still only a major. The mistake was recognised by the War Office on 25 September that year and Rebow's rank was corrected, listing him as a major and lieutenant-colonel with seniority from 1799.[4]

Having continued to serve in the 2nd Life Guards, on 20 August 1807 Rebow purchased a lieutenant-colonelcy within the 1st Life Guards. This was also a supernumerary position.[6][10] He was then promoted to brevet colonel on 25 October 1809, serving with the 1st Life Guards until 1 January 1812 when he was promoted to major-general.[Note 2][1][10]

Rebow's first appointment as a general officer was to serve on the military staff of the Inland District. With the Napoleonic Wars ongoing, towards the end of the year the Prince Regent gave permission for the Household Cavalry Brigade to join General Lord Wellington's army in the Peninsular War. Command of the brigade was initially given to Major-General Terence O'Loghlin but he resigned under the grounds of ill health on 25 October. Rebow was chosen to take his place, assuming command on 28 November.[8] The brigade contained squadrons from both regiments of Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards.[11] Wellington had previously requested that no new generals be sent out from England because they were "useless and only served to keep out men who were useful"; according to military historian Sir John Fortescue he was "disgusted" when Rebow and another cavalry general, Brigadier-General Henry Fane, were ordered out anyway.[12]

The Household Cavalry Brigade had arrived in the Iberian Peninsula on 23 November.[8] Quartered in Lisbon, Rebow began to prepare his regiments for wartime service. Unused to this, the colonel in command of the 2nd Life Guards and several of his officers threatened to resign.[11][13][14] Rebow subsequently requested a leave of absence in mid-January 1813; he returned to England and received no further military duties, retiring to live at Wivenhoe Park. His abruptly ended period of command made him the shortest tenured of any general under Wellington during the Napoleonic Wars.[8] He subsequently became a magistrate and deputy lieutenant for Essex, and through seniority was promoted to lieutenant-general on 17 May 1825 and general on 23 November 1841.[1][10] Rebow died at Wivenhoe Park on 7 October 1845, aged 75, having had what military historians Ron McGuigan and Robert Burnham describe as an "unremarkable career".[8] He was buried in St Mary's, Colchester.[7]