Humphrey Bland

Lieutenant General Humphrey Bland (1686 – 8 May 1763) was a British Army general who commanded the cavalry at the Battle of Culloden.

Military career
Bland was commissioned as an ensign in 1704. He was involved in operations against the Jacobite Rising of 1715.

He became a leading military theoretician and military writer: among his books, was A Treatise of Military Discipline: In Which is laid down and Explained the Duties of Officer and Soldier which was published in 1727 and "considered the bible of the British Army". A first edition was owned by George Washington who encouraged his officers in the Continental Army to "study Bland and other treatises."

In 1742 he was appointed Quartermaster-General to the Forces, a post he held until his death.

Present at Battle of Dettingen in 1743, he had his horse shot out from him. He was commander of a cavalry brigade in the Low Countries between 1744 and 1745. Following the Jacobite Rising of 1745 he was commander of the cavalry at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

In 1747 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief for Scotland, and although he was Governor of Gibraltar between 1749 and 1754, he resumed his role as Commander-in-Chief for Scotland from 1753 to 1756.

On 27 June 1737 he was promoted to the colonelcy of the 36th Regiment of Foot, from which he was removed, in 1741, to the 13th Regiment of Dragoons, and two years afterwards to the 3rd (King's Own) Regiment of Dragoons. In July 1752 he was removed to the 1st Dragoon Guards, the colonelcy of which he retained until his decease in 1763.

He lived at Blandsfort, Abbeyleix, County Laois, Ireland.

Family
In 1755 he married Elizabeth Dalrymple: there were no children.