William Robe

Colonel Sir William Robe (18 February 1765 – 5 November 1820) was a British Army officer of the Royal Artillery who served in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was praised as an artillery commander in combat and an organiser of military operations, as well as starting the first regimental school for soldiers' children, and serving as the architect of Quebec's Anglican cathedral.

Early life Robe was born at Woolwich in 1765, the son of William Robe, Second Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery's invalid battalion, and proofmaster in the Royal Arsenal, and his wife, Mary Broom.

Career Robe served from June 1782 to July 1784 at Jamaica, acting as adjutant and storekeeper. After two years at home he was in 1786 sent to Canada. He was promoted to first lieutenant on 22 November 1787, and returned to England in 1790.

All of his sons joined the British Army and all but one died while serving. Their eldest son, William Livingstone, was born in 1791, and served alongside his father in the Peninsular War before dying at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Their second son, Alexander Watt (1793–1849), was a lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Engineers, and their third son, Thomas Congreve (1799–1853) a lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Artillery. Their fourth son, Frederick Holt (1801–1871), was major-general and colonel of the 95th Regiment of Foot, and the Governor of South Australia. The fifth son, George Mountain Sewell (1802–1825), was a lieutenant in the 26th Bengal Native Infantry, served as adjutant in the First Burmese War, and died on passage to Chittagong. Robe's daughters were unmarried. The youngest, Vimiera, died in December 1893 at Woolwich. She presented to the Royal Artillery Institution at Woolwich all the medals, orders, and decorations of her father and eldest brother, together with miniature portraits of each of them.