Robert D'Arcy

buried Chatham St Mary the Virgin, 19 May 1827, entry 1571 · AGE 76 · abode Chatham — the register the tree's 1751 has always rested on

recordFreeREG, Chatham St Mary the Virgin · the source ↗

London Gazette, 19 July 1813, issue 16755 page 1431 — “Brevet Colonel Robert D'Arcy to be Colonel, vice Evelegh”, in an Office of Ordnance list of Royal Engineers promotions. Ten Gazette notices name him between 1793 and 1819.

recordThe London Gazette, issue 16755 p.1431 · the source ↗

listed among the Second Lieutenants and Practitioner Engineers of the Corps of Engineers in the printed Army List of 1778

recordA List of the Officers of the Army, 1778 · the source ↗

“Brevet Colonel Robert D'Arcy to be Colonel, vice Evelegh” · Office of Ordnance, Corps of Royal Engineers, gazetted 19 July 1813

recordThe London Gazette, issue 16755, 19 July 1813 · the source ↗

married JEAN WARD at PORTSEA ST MARY, 21 JUNE 1779 · the marriage this archive has carried on a family tree since it began, nine months before their son Joseph was christened in the same church

recordHampshire Marriages / Baptisms, Hampshire Genealogical Society (FindMyPast) · the source ↗

“At Chatham, on the 13th instant, Major-General D'Arcy, late of the Corps of Royal Engineers” · Morning Chronicle, 17 May 1827 — his death date from the contemporary press rather than from Connolly's book of 1898

recordBritish Newspaper Archive, 17 notices, May–June 1827 (FindMyPast) · the source ↗

“On Saturday Major-General D'Arcy, whose death we announced last week, WAS INTERRED AT CHATHAM WITH MILITARY HONOURS” · Kent Herald, 24 May 1827 — the Saturday was 19 May, the date of entry 1571 in Chatham's burial register

recordBritish Newspaper Archive, 17 notices, May–June 1827 (FindMyPast) · the source ↗

“At Chatham, AT AN ADVANCED AGE, Major General D'Arcy” · Kent Herald, 17 May 1827 — and not one of the seventeen notices gives his forename or names a single relative

recordBritish Newspaper Archive, 17 notices, May–June 1827 (FindMyPast) · the source ↗

17 JANUARY 1776 · PRACTITIONER ENGINEER AND SECOND LIEUTENANT, The Corps of Engineers — his first commission, and the earliest record of him in this archive. The seniority date is printed in the Army Lists of 1778 and 1781

recordBritish Army Lists & Commission Registers 1661-1826 / Officer Promotions 1800-1815 (FindMyPast), citing the London Gazette · the source ↗

8 May 1802 · Captain promoted MAJOR IN THE ARMY, Royal Engineers · War Office 11 May 1802 · London Gazette 15478 p.468

recordBritish Army Lists & Commission Registers 1661-1826 / Officer Promotions 1800-1815 (FindMyPast), citing the London Gazette · the source ↗

1 March 1805 · Brevet Major promoted LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, Corps of the Royal Engineers, vice Nepean · Ordnance Office 18 March 1805 · London Gazette 15789 p.351

recordBritish Army Lists & Commission Registers 1661-1826 / Officer Promotions 1800-1815 (FindMyPast), citing the London Gazette · the source ↗

4 June 1813 · Lieutenant-Colonel promoted COLONEL IN THE ARMY BY BREVET by the Prince Regent · War Office 7 June 1813 · London Gazette 16737 p.1100

recordBritish Army Lists & Commission Registers 1661-1826 / Officer Promotions 1800-1815 (FindMyPast), citing the London Gazette · the source ↗

named in 1843 as “the late MAJOR-GENERAL D'ARCY, R.E.”, father of Margaret Jones · rank, corps and the fact of his death, in one line of a London paper

recordMorning Herald (London), 13 February 1843, p.8 (British Newspaper Archive) · the source ↗

will proved 4 July 1827 · “Major General in the Army and Colonel of the Royal Engineers of Chatham, Kent”

recordTNA PROB 11/1728/64 (digitised, unread) · the source ↗

entry 203 · 2nd Lt 17 Jan 1776 → Major-General 12 Aug 1819, C.B. · “Died at Chatham, 13 5 1827”

recordConnolly, Roll of Officers of the Corps of Royal Engineers · the source ↗

described as “Col. D'Arcy, CHIEF ENGINEER OF CHATHAM LINES” — the only record giving him a post as well as a rank

recordKentish Gazette, 14 May 1805, p.4 · the source ↗

described in March 1823 as “MAJOR-GEN. D'ARCY, OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS” — the earliest record found naming his corps

recordHampshire Chronicle, 24 March 1823, p.3 · the source ↗

named in November 1806 as “COL. D'ARCY, OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS” — the earliest record found anywhere giving his corps

recordOxford University and City Herald, 1 Nov 1806, p.2 · the source ↗

death notice · “CAPTAIN ROBERT D'ARCY, late of the INDIA COMPANY'S ARMY, son of the late COLONEL D'ARCY of the ROYAL ARTILLERY and LADY CATHERINE” · died Bangor, North Wales, 14 June 1862

recordLondon Evening Standard and Morning Herald, 25 June 1862 · the source ↗

PORTER'S INDEX GIVES HIM THREE CAMPAIGNS · “D'ARCY, ROBERT, at second siege of MINORCA, 209, 216; COPENHAGEN, 243; WALCHEREN, 248” · this archive had cited Porter only for a station list and had never read the book · all three have now been read; the Copenhagen page took a second pass to find, for the reason given below

recordWhitworth Porter, History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, vol. I (Longmans, 1889) — read in full text, Internet Archive historyofcorpsof0001whit · the source ↗

THE SECOND SIEGE OF MINORCA, 1781-82, AS A LIEUTENANT · the Duc de Crillon landed on 19 August 1781 to besiege Fort St Philip's · Lieutenant-Colonel Brewse held the post of Chief Engineer in the island, and “under him were Captain Gilbert Townshend, and LIEUTENANTS ROBERT D'ARCY, W. Johnston, J. R. Douglas, C. Shipley, and J. Fiddes” · a garrison of about 3,000 under General Murray as Governor — ONE OF SIX ENGINEER OFFICERS INSIDE A FORTRESS THAT WAS BESIEGED FOR SIX MONTHS

recordWhitworth Porter, History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, vol. I (Longmans, 1889) — read in full text, Internet Archive historyofcorpsof0001whit · the source ↗

COMMANDING ROYAL ENGINEER AT WALCHEREN, 1809 · an army of nearly 40,000 under the Earl of Chatham, divided into five corps, “the largest and most important” being Sir Eyre Coote's, sent to take Walcheren and the fortress of Flushing · “THE COMMANDING ROYAL ENGINEER WITH THIS CORPS WAS LIEUTENANT-COLONEL R. D'ARCY” · HIS SON JOSEPH'S OBITUARY SAYS JOSEPH WAS AT THE TAKING OF WALCHEREN TOO — the father commanding the Engineers of the main corps, the son a Royal Artillery officer of twenty-nine, and neither record mentions the other

recordWhitworth Porter, History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, vol. I (Longmans, 1889) — read in full text, Internet Archive historyofcorpsof0001whit · the source ↗

PUT UNDER ARREST AT FLUSHING, AND THE REASON IS A CHARACTER PORTRAIT · Colonel Fyers, wounded in the chest by a musket ball, ordered the senior engineer in the trenches to deliver a written report each morning · the Brigade-Major's account: “The first morning, COLONEL D., AN OLD MAN BEYOND SIXTY, refused compliance, saying HE HAD OTHER THINGS TO DO, and no solicitation could prevail on him to write a single line” · the third morning he declined again, “SAYING IT WAS ALL NONSENSE”, and denied his superior's right to demand a report “BECAUSE SOME THIRTY OR FORTY YEARS PREVIOUSLY HE HAD BEEN SENIOR TO COLONEL F.” · arrested, and after the preliminaries of a court-martial “Colonel D'Arcy thought better of it, made his apologies, was released, and ever after furnished his report” · Porter names him in a footnote; the narrative calls him only Colonel D.

recordWhitworth Porter, History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, vol. I (Longmans, 1889) — read in full text, Internet Archive historyofcorpsof0001whit · the source ↗

AND AN AGE THAT DOES NOT FIT THE TREE · the Brigade-Major calls him “AN OLD MAN BEYOND SIXTY” at Flushing in AUGUST 1809, which puts his birth BEFORE ABOUT 1749 · THE FAMILY TREE SAYS 1751, which would have made him fifty-eight that summer · this is an eyewitness impression recorded by one officer and printed eighty years later, NOT A REGISTER, and it is graded accordingly — but it is the second thing this archive has found that sits badly with 1751, and the tree's 1751 is itself only arithmetic from an age on a burial register

recordWhitworth Porter, History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, vol. I (Longmans, 1889) — read in full text, Internet Archive historyofcorpsof0001whit · the source ↗

COMMANDING ENGINEER OF THE COPENHAGEN EXPEDITION, 1807, UNDER THE FUTURE DUKE OF WELLINGTON · the force sailed from Yarmouth Roads on 27 July with 20,000 men “under the command of MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ARTHUR WELLESLEY”, and “THE ENGINEERS CONSISTED OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL R. D'ARCY, COMMANDING ENGINEER; Captains R. Fletcher, J. F. Birch and S. R. Chapman; Second Captains C. W. PASLEY, H. Goldfinch and C. S. Rhodes; First Lieutenant G. Collyer” · Copenhagen was bombarded from 2 September and the Danish fleet seized · TWO OF THE MEN UNDER HIM BECAME FAMOUS: Richard Fletcher was Wellington's chief engineer in the Peninsula and died at San Sebastian, and Charles Pasley founded the school of military engineering at Chatham, WHERE D'ARCY HIMSELF DIED AS COMMANDANT TWENTY YEARS LATER

recordWhitworth Porter, History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, vol. I (Longmans, 1889) — read in full text, Internet Archive historyofcorpsof0001whit · the source ↗

AND THE BOOK'S OWN INDEX IS WHAT FOUND IT · a first pass over Porter's full text matched seven instances of the surname AND MISSED THIS ONE, because the scanner had set it “D‘Arcy” with a LEFT single quotation mark where every other instance uses a right one · THE SEARCH WAS WRONG AND THE INDEX WAS RIGHT: Porter's own entry says “Copenhagen, 243”, which is why anybody went looking for a page the text search had already declared absent · AN INDEX IS A CONTROL ON A FULL-TEXT SEARCH, and this archive will take that lesson into every book it reads this way

recordWhitworth Porter, History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, vol. I (Longmans, 1889) — read in full text, Internet Archive historyofcorpsof0001whit · the source ↗

IN THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS IN THE ARMY LIST OF 1783, among the lieutenants, in a block of officers all dated 17 JANUARY 1776 · the spelling there is D'ARCEY · THIS IS THE SAME DATE THIS ARCHIVE ALREADY HELD for his first commission from the Army Lists of 1778 and 1781, printed again seven years later and reached independently

recordA List of the Officers of the Army, 1783, read in full text — Internet Archive listofofficersof00grea_1 · the source ↗

HIS BROTHER IS REAL, AND THE 1866 TRADITION GOT HIM RIGHT · the Army List of 1783 carries CONSTANT[INE] D'ARCEY, 12 July, among the FIRST LIEUTENANTS OF THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF ARTILLERY — which is exactly what the tradition said: “Constantine, Lieut. R.A.” · the two sons it names are therefore both documented, in one volume, in the two corps it gives them

recordA List of the Officers of the Army, 1783, read in full text — Internet Archive listofofficersof00grea_1 · the source ↗

AND THE COLONEL IS NOT THERE · THE FATHER THE SAME TRADITION DESCRIBES — a Colonel d'Arcy who “commanded a regiment during the American War” and was “killed in action” — DOES NOT APPEAR IN THE ARMY LISTS OF 1775, 1776, 1778 OR 1783. Those volumes are lists of GENERAL AND FIELD OFFICERS and they use the word Colonel 230, 235, 245 and 312 times respectively, so they are not silent about colonels. The only officers of the surname in any of them are FRANCIS D'ARCY, JOHN POMEROY D'ARCY, a GEORGE and a JOHN in the indexes, and the two brothers above. THREE GAPS KEEP THIS SHORT OF A DISPROOF and are stated rather than buried: a colonel of a PROVINCIAL or LOYALIST corps need not appear in these lists, nor need one on the IRISH ESTABLISHMENT, and “Colonel” may have been a local or courtesy rank. What can be said is that the tradition is CORROBORATED EXACTLY WHERE IT NAMES TWO MEN THIS ARCHIVE CAN FIND, and UNSUPPORTED EXACTLY WHERE IT WOULD PROVE THE NOBLE DESCENT

recordA List of the General and Field-Officers as they rank in the Army, the volumes for 1775, 1776 and 1778, each read in full text — Internet Archive listofgeneralfie00grea_3, _2 and listofgeneralfie00grea · the source ↗

“DIED COMMANDANT OF CHATHAM IN 1827” · the post, not just the rank, in a printed query of 1866 asking who his grandfather was

recordNotes and Queries, 3rd Series, Vol. X, 1 December 1866, p.432 — read in the open scans, Internet Archive notesqueries310unse · the source ↗

THE FAMILY'S OWN TRADITION, PRINTED IN 1866 AND LABELLED AS TRADITION BY THE MAN WHO PRINTED IT · “Colonel d'Arcy, A BRANCH OF THE HOLDERNESS FAMILY FROM YORKSHIRE, commanded a regiment during the American War. He was KILLED IN ACTION, leaving two sons: 1. Robert, Major-General R.E. 2. CONSTANTINE, Lieut. R.A., DIED S.P. On his voyage to America Colonel d'Arcy and his family were WRECKED. They lost all their baggage and papers, which, it is believed, would have proved their noble descent.” · THIS IS LORE AND IS GRADED AS LORE: the correspondent was ASKING for the grandfather because he could not prove it, the excuse for the missing evidence is inside the story, and a search of the Internet Archive's full text finds NO REPLY ever printed. It is the oldest version of the Yorkshire claim this archive has, and it is 159 years older than the family tree that states it as fact

recordNotes and Queries, 3rd Series, Vol. X, 1 December 1866, p.432 — read in the open scans, Internet Archive notesqueries310unse · the source ↗

STYLED “MAJOR-GENERAL ROBERT D'ARCY, R.E., C.B.” in the plate list of a family book of 1972 · THE C.B. IS NEW TO THIS ARCHIVE and is a caption written by a descendant, not an official list — it is a lead to test against the Gazette, not an honour this archive has documented

recordBerta Ruck, Ancestral Voices (London, Hutchinson, 1972), list of illustrations, plates between pp.128-129 — Internet Archive ancestralvoices00ruck_0, catalogued under the subject “Dorsey family” · the source ↗

…archive of its own yet, so the register names her parents and nobody else. 8 1751 → 1827 Robert D'Arcy b. 1751 d. 13 MAY 1827 Army Officer, Major General and Commander of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, England × Jean Ward North Yor…

…y could be reached. They cost money. Hampshire Marriages · Hampshire Genealogical Society Robert D'Arcy married Jean Ward ROBERT DARCY married JEAN WARD at PORTSEA ST MARY on 21 JUNE 1779. This archive has carried Robert D'Arcy's mar…

…llustrations, which the item page shows without borrowing, is a roll-call: «Major-General Robert D'Arcy, R.E., C.B.», «Jean D'Arcy, nee Ward», «Colonel Joseph D'Arcy, R.A.», «Lady Catherine D'Arcy, nee West», «The Three Aunts D'Arcy,…

…ber 2026 Daughter of the late Major-General D'Arcy A death notice in a London paper names Robert D'Arcy's rank, his corps and the fact of his death — and calls the dead woman his daughter. Robert D'Arcy's parentage of anybody has res…

…, which is ordinary. And a naming pattern. Her father was JOSEPH. The first child she and Robert D'Arcy baptised at Portsea, in March 1780, was JOSEPH. Scottish naming custom gave a second son the maternal grandfather's name, and thi…

…n children between them and not one photograph, letter or will yet found. → Major-General Robert D'Arcy, C.B. Fifty-one years in the Corps of Royal Engineers. The Corps painted its senior officers. The Royal Engineers Museum at Chath…

…that George Pitt D'Arcy's father was a Lieutenant-Colonel D'Arcy — which is exactly what Robert D'Arcy was in 1805, on his way to Major-General of Engineers. Until now the father–son join rested on the family tree. It now rests on a…

…generated. Open 2 Blocked 3 Answered 6 Show All 11 Open 2 Answered 6 Blocked 3 1 Who was Robert D'Arcy's father? Open The join that decides the whole pedigree What is known He has no entry in the Dictionary of National Biography — t…

…nd nobody has asked for it. Context → 20 Open PROB 11/1728/64 — the will of Major-General Robert D'Arcy The National Archives, Kew — The image is DIGITISED and the record page reads “£3.50 - sign in to get this free”. It is not a pay…

…ee places on 13 September 2026 What a fortnight of registers did to it Where What changed Robert D'Arcy generation 8 His marriage and eldest son are documented at last — Joseph, baptised Portsea 19 March 1780, father Robert, mother J…

…actually holds → Graft one · unevidenced The D'Arcys of Hornby Castle Above Major-General Robert D'Arcy the tree inserts a Thomas (Francis) D'Arcy , said to be born at St James's Palace, carrying two birth years sixty-nine years apar…

…he other. 15 Sep 2026 FindMyPast — British India Office Marriages found something Captain Robert D'Arcy of the India Company's Army ROBERT WEST D'ARCY, married at BOMBAY in 1846 — and the middle name is the find. WEST is Lady Catheri…

…n infant in 1841, born Hampshire documented Elizabeth Pitt A woman named PITT living with Robert D'Arcy's son, while Robert's other son had carried Pitt as a middle name since 1783. A lead, not an explanation. aged 55 in 1841, in the…

…h in May 1827. Not one of them gives his first name, and not one names a single relative. Robert D'Arcy's parentage is the oldest unanswered question on this site. The likeliest remaining source was the press: a general's death notic…

…antine D'Arcy A name in a burial register with nothing attached to it. He turns out to be Robert D'Arcy's son, christened in Barbados, commissioned into his father's corps at eighteen, and dead at nineteen. Robert D'Arcy's son Consta…

…nted, and a household that was invisible to this archive a fortnight ago. A fortnight ago Robert D'Arcy was a rank, a burial and a rumour of Yorkshire, and his family was a list of names on a tree. He now has a marriage, a career in…

…July. tools/crossread.py Question 1 Robert and Jean had ten children This site's page on Robert D'Arcy's family listed FIVE, and added a sixth yesterday. The family tree it is built on holds TEN, and the Hornby page has said “ten ch…

…ght days before a convict ship sailed. This archive has said for years that Major-General Robert D'Arcy died at Chatham in 1827 — on the authority of Connolly's Roll of Officers of the Corps of Royal Engineers , a printed book. It ha…

Brighton, 1841–1876 · found 14 September 2026 The Sussex sisters Three of Robert D'Arcy's daughters, added to this archive yesterday on the authority of other people's web trees, and documented today from the public r…

…rchive holds of the family, and it is the only document anywhere that names Major-General Robert D'Arcy as somebody's father. How it was found → This page is not about that entry. It is about how much of Portsea's register stands beh…

…story of the Corps of Royal Engineers, vol. 1 1889 Internet Archive, full text Lieutenant Robert D'Arcy at the siege of Fort St Philip's, Minorca, 1781; «Robert D'Arcy, Barbados» in a station list; Commanding Engineer at Copenhagen 1…

…Guernsey A marriage notice of 1805 calls him the son of a Lieutenant-Colonel D'Arcy — and Robert D'Arcy had been gazetted to exactly that rank six months earlier. George Pitt D'Arcy is the best-documented D'Arcy in this archive and h…

…t stops in a place the tree itself admits to. Found 13 September 2026 The first record of Robert D'Arcy in an English parish register Everything on this page below is about what cannot be shown: no baptism, no parentage in the Corps…

Robert D'Arcy, 1778–1827 · found 13 September 2026 The Corps Forty-nine years of an engineer's career, every promotion cited to the London Gaze…

…ery other tested D'Arcy in the world — which is the most direct attack anyone can make on Robert D'Arcy's parentage , and it beats every archive visit on this site's list. not yet done The match list. Shared matches carrying their ow…

…nships at all. What can be said is that a woman named Pitt was living in the household of Robert D'Arcy's son in 1841, and that Robert D'Arcy's other son had carried Pitt as a middle name since 1783. That is a connection worth chasin…

…two centuries before the parish registers this archive reads. Georgian Britain 1714–1837 Robert D'Arcy's whole life, and his son's first thirty-five years. A standing army, a global war every twenty years, and a Board of Ordnance th…

…remotest birthplace in the archive Mt Thompson, Brisbane 5 Jean Ward · 1754–1823 Married Robert D'Arcy at Portsea on 21 June 1779 and followed the Corps of Royal Engineers for forty-four years. Their first child Joseph was baptised…

…les. Date filters work once driven through the interface rather than the URL. It produced Robert D'Arcy's seventeen death notices and his funeral, George Pitt D'Arcy's marriage and the only statement of his paternity, Joseph D'Arcy's…

…a control. Where it was corrected → 15 September 2026 was Printed two different dates for Robert D'Arcy's first commission and never noticed. The timeline, /hornby and three other pages said 1776, from Connolly's Roll. /the-corps sai…

…the Peninsula 48 times, Waterloo 11 and the Crimea 43 . It is Porter's post-1815 volume; Robert D'Arcy's service ran 1776 to about 1809, which is volume 1, already read. Joseph was Royal Artillery , so no volume of Porter was ever g…