'His Excellency Lieutt Genl Sir George Beckwith, KB, Govr of Barbados Commander of His Majesty's Forces in the West Indies', 1814 (c)

Uncoloured mezzotint by S W Reynolds, after John Eckstein, 1814 (c).

Portrait of Lieutenant-General Sir George Beckwith in tented encampment in the West Indies, standing near a palm tree.

In late 1809, Lieutenant General (later General) Sir George Beckwith, with Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, gathered a force from across the Caribbean to assault Guadeloupe. The island was the last French possession to be captured in the Caribbean in the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). The Royal Navy had systematically blockaded and reduced the French garrisons that had posed a persistent threat to British trade routes in the region. Without resupply or reinforcement, the French garrison was weak and demoralised. The invasion force included British Army regulars, men of the West India Regiments and naval brigades and these proved no match for the French forces on the island. The garrison surrendered on the 5 February 1810.

Beckwith was made Governor of Saint Vincent in 1806 and Governor of Barbados in 1810. He was promoted to general in 1814 and became Commander-in-Chief in Ireland, in 1816. Beckwith died in London in 1823.