Lot Essay
Robert Prescott (1725-1816), was gazetted captain 15th Foot, 22 January 1755; major, 95th Foot, 22 March 1761; lieutenant-colonel late 72nd Foot, 10 November 1762; brevet-colonel, 29 August 1777 and colonel, 13 October 1780; colonel of the 28th Regimnet, 6 July 1789; major-general, 12 October 1793 and general 1 January 1798. He served in the expeditions against Rochefort in 1757 and Louisburg in 1758. He acted as aide-de-camp to General Amherst in 1759 and afterwards joined the Army under General James Wolfe. During the American War of Independence, he was present with the 28th regiment at the battle of Long Island and the storming of Fort Washington in November 1775. On 6 July 1789, he was appointed colonel of the 28th regiment. He was ordered to Barbados to take command there and landed in Martinique without opposition in 1794. He was appointed civil governor of the island and his management prevented an uprising of the natives. The French held Prescott in such high regard that at the storming of Fort Mathilde at Guadaloupe where Prescott's house was situated, express orders were given that his life should be spared. Prescott's health failed and he returned to England in 1795. In 1796, he was sent to Canada as governor where he made considerable additions to the fortifications of Quebec. In 1797, he was appointed in addition governor of Nova Scotia and he remained head of the government of that colony until he was superceded in 1799 by Sir Robert Shore Milnes. Prescott returned to England in 1799 and died at Rosegreen, near Battle on 21 December 1816.