Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Medows, William
MEDOWS, Sir WILLIAM (1738–1813), general, second son of Philip Medows [see under Meadows, Sir Philip], deputy ranger of Richmond Park, and Lady Frances Pierrepont, daughter of the Duke of Kingston, was born on 31 Dec. 1738. He entered the army as an ensign in the 50th regiment in 1756. In 1760 he went with his regiment to join the allied army under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, who as Frederick the Great's lieutenant was defending western Germany against the French. Medows remained in Germany till March 1764. In the December of that year he obtained the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 5th regiment of foot, exchanging in September 1773 into the 12th light dragoons. In 1775 Medows again exchanged into the 55th regiment of foot, which was on the point of starting for America, to act against the revolted colonists. He distinguished himself at the battle of Brandywine in 1776, and in an expedition against Santa Lucia in 1778. He returned to England in 1780, and was now made colonel of the 89th regiment. Medows held a high command in the expedition sent out under Commodore Johnstone against the Cape of Good Hope in 1781. A skirmish occurred with the French admiral, Suffren, in Prava Bay on 16 April 1782, and on arriving at the Cape of Good Hope the English found that Suffren had anticipated them and landed such strong reinforcements that an attack would be useless. Johnstone now decided to return to Europe. Medows, however, having heard that the English in the south of India were being hard pressed by Hyder Ali, sultan of Mysore, sailed with three of the ships and a large body of troops to Madras, where he arrived on 13 Feb. 1783. He accompanied Colonel Fullarton in an expedition from Madras against Mysore, but the sudden conclusion of peace soon put a stop to the campaign. In September 1788 Medows received the post of commander-in-chief and governor at Bombay. He remained here till January 1790, when he was transferred to the supreme command at Madras. A war with Tippoo, Hyder Ali's son and successor as sultan of Mysore, had arisen, and Lord Cornwallis [q. v.], the governor-general, now instructed Medows to open the campaign. Starting from Trichinopoli at the head of fifteen thousand men on 15 June 1790, Medows crossed the frontier into Mysore, and advanced in a westerly direction. Karúr and Darapuram were taken and garrisoned in order to maintain communications with Madras, and on 22 July the army arrived at Coimbatore, which was found evacuated by the enemy. The latter place was made the centre of operations, from which detachments sent out by Medows captured the fortresses of Palghaut and Dindigal, and occupied the positions of Erode and Satyamangalam; the two latter with Karúr covering the road to the Gujelhuttey pass, through which Medows hoped to advance against Seringapatam in October. His forces, however, had been much weakened by being distributed over a large extent of territory, and Tippoo was thus able to fall upon the isolated English detachments in detail. On 13 Sept. Colonel Floyd was attacked at Satyamangalam and compelled to retreat. Erode was abandoned; Darapuram was recaptured by the sultan on 8 Oct., and the English were again compelled to concentrate at Coimbatore. Medows now marched out in strong force with the object of bringing on a pitched battle. But the English moved too slowly to come up with their enemy, and at last Tippoo, having outmanœuvred his opponent, crossed into English territory and laid siege to Trichinopoli, the neighbourhood of which was remorselessly ravaged. Medows hurried up to defend the city, which he reached on 14 Dec., and Tippoo now retired to his own country by the north. Medows returned to Madras. Four of the border fortresses of Mysore still remained in English hands; but their campaign had on the whole been a failure. Lord Cornwallis now announced his intention of undertaking sole command of the English army in Mysore. Medows went through the campaigns of 1791–2, but in a strictly subordinate character, and in the planning of operations he had no share. He led the storming party which captured Nandidrug on 19 Oct. 1791, and he commanded the right column in the night attack on the Seringapatam redoubts on 16 Feb. 1792. The latter event was followed by peace. Medows resigned the prize-money (nearly 15,000l.) which fell to his share and distributed it among the troops. He left for England in August 1792. On 14 Dec. of that year he was made a knight of the Bath, on 12 Oct. 1793 he was made a lieutenant-general, and in November 1796 he was appointed to the command of the 7th dragoon guards. At the brevet promotion of 1 Jan. 1798 he was made a general and received the post of governor of the Isle of Wight. In 1801 he succeeded Cornwallis for a short space as commander-in-chief in Ireland. He died at Bath on 14 Nov. 1813.
[Philippart's East India Military Calendar; Wilks's History of Mysore; Mill's History of British India; Dodwell and Miles's Alphabetical Lists of East India Company's Civil Servants; Army Lists, passim; Burke's Peerage; Cornwallis Correspondence.]