George Don (British Army officer)

Sir

George Don
Portrait of George Don
Born30 April 1756
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died17 January 1832 (aged 75)
Gibraltar
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service / branch British Army
Years of service1770 to 1832
RankGeneral
Battles / wars
American Revolutionary War
• Siege of Fort St. Philip, Menorca
French Revolutionary Wars
Flanders Campaign
Invasion of the Batavian Republic
Napoleonic Wars
Walcheren Expedition
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order
Other workLieutenant Governor of Jersey
Governor of Gibraltar

General Sir George Don GCB GCH (30 April 1756 – 17 January 1832) was a senior British Army military officer and colonial governor during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. His service was conducted across Europe, but his most important work was in military and defensive organisation against the threat of French invasion during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Don was also frequently requested for advisory and espionage work by British generals and was once employed by the Prussian State as a spy. In 1799 he was arrested during a truce by Guillaume Brune who accused him of attempting to foment rebellion in the Batavian Republic and was not released until the Peace of Amiens. During and following the wars, Don also served as Lieutenant Governor of Jersey and Governor Gibraltar, implementing organizational reforms with much success in both places.