Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin GCH KCB FRS FRGS (1773 – 1 May 1841), was a British army officer of the Napoleonic era and later Member of Parliament.
Rufane Donkin came of a military family and was the eldest child. His father, who reached the rank of a full general, served with many famous British commanders including Wolfe and Gage. The younger Donkin received his first commission at the age of five as an honour post in his father's regiment.
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Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin GCH KCB FRS FRGS (1773 – 1 May 1841), was a British army officer of the Napoleonic era and later Member of Parliament.
Rufane Donkin came of a military family and was the eldest child. His father, who reached the rank of a full general, served with many famous British commanders including Wolfe and Gage. The younger Donkin received his first commission at the age of five as an honour post in his father's regiment.
Becoming a captain in 1793, Donkin was on active service in the West Indies in the next year, gaining promotion to major in 1796. At the age of twenty-five he became a lieutenant-colonel and in 1798 led a light battalion with distinction in the Ostend expedition. He served with Cathcart in Denmark in 1807 and two years later was given a brigade of three regiments in the army in Portugal, which he led in victory at the Second Battle of Porto. On the day prior of the Battle of Talavera, Donkins brigade was positioned ahead of the main British army and...
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