Robert Barton (British Army officer)

Sir Robert Barton (1770 – 17 March 1853), was an officer of the British Army. He saw service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, particularly during the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in 1799 and the Peninsular War, rising to the rank of general.

Early life
Barton was son of William Barton, Esq., of the Grove, County Tipperary, and was born in 1770. Being in the south of France in 1790, he, like other Englishmen 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.

Army career
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. 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. 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 knighted in 1837.

He died in London on 17 March 1853.