Lieutenant General William Fyers R.E. ^{2 3 4}

  Noted events in his life were:

• Biography: Stuart E. Tapley, 27 Jun 2009, Guestbook Entry: setapley@homemail.com.au. William Fyers, the eldest son of Thomas Fyers and his wife, Elizabeth Falconer, who ultimately became a Lieutenant General and Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers, was born at Inverness on 06 January 1753, and was the father of Sarah, who married Cornelius Mann, later Major General Royal Engineers.

After going through his military training, he was ordered to America in 1775 to join the army under Major General the Honourable William Howe at Boston, Massachusetts. In December 1776, the army went into winter quarters near New York, and it was probably during this period that he met his future wife, Miss Ann Wanton. After taking part in various campaigns up and down the country under Howe and Clinton, Lieutenant Fyers returned to New York in June 1780, with General Clinton and remained in that neighbourhood for the remainder of the war.

In 1781 he married Ann Wanton and returned to England, being based in Gosport, Hampshire.

In 1788 Lieutenant William Fyers with his young family was sent from Gosport to Gibraltar, and in 1795, with the rank of Brevet Major, he succeeded Major General Robert Morse in command of the Royal Engineers at that station. He became Lieutenant Colonel in 1800 and a Regimental Colonel in 1806. He spent some 18 years at Gibraltar, and the story of his life is a history of the Rock and its defences (R.E. Journal). Colonel Fyers, whose long labours in connection with the magnificent garrison library, were heartily recognised by his brother officers; they had his portrait painted by Hoppner and hung in the library, where it still remains.

In 1807 Colonel Fyers' health broke down and he was ordered home in May of that year, and later in the same year he became Deputy Inspector General of Fortifications in England under his old chief, General Robert Morse. In 1809 he was commanding a detachment of Royal Engineers attached to the fleet for the Walcheren expedition, and was wounded in the chest by a musket ball fired from a distance of less than 100 yards. He was promoted Major General in 1811 and given the Engineers' command in Ireland, which he held for 18 years (the same length of time he had spent in Gibraltar), and where he appears to have been as popular a chief as in his earlier command. He became a Colonel Commandant of the Corps in 1816, and in 1819 was promoted to Lieutenant General. He died in Dublin 27 October 1829 after an illness of only two days, at the age of 77, and was buried in Christ Church Cathedral, where his brother officers erected a tablet to his memory.

William married Anne Wanton on 4 Jan 1781.⁶ (Anne Wanton was born on 17 Mar 1754 in Province of New Jersey ⁶ and died on 27 Sep 1808 in London, England.)