Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Guise, John (d.1765)

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692794Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 23 — Guise, John (d.1765)1890Henry Manners Chichester

GUISE, JOHN (d. 1765), general, is described by Wotton (Baronetage, ii. 217) as grandson of John Guise, one of the brothers of Christopher Guise or Gyse, of Elmore, Gloucestershire, who received a baronetcy from Charles II, which became extinct in 1773. He is believed to have been the John Guise of Christ Church, Oxford, who took the degree of B.A. on 20 March 1701 (Cat. Oxf. Grad.) He was appointed captain and lieutenant-colonel 1st foot guards on 9 April 1706, and served under Marlborough. The regimental records show him as one of the captains present in the Low Countries at the opening of the Oudenarde campaign in 1708 (Hamilton, Grenadier Guards, ii. 28). A curious memorial, in which Guise prays the Duke of Ormonde to obtain restitution of three hundred guineas taken from his sister when embarking in the Thames for Holland in 1712 (see Cal. State Papers, Treasury, 1708-14), and an undated application to Ormonde for brevet rank (Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep.), suggest; that Guise was still serving in the Low countries when Ormonde held command. Guise commanded the battalion of his regiment sent with the Vigo expedition of 1719 (Hamilton, ii. 71). He became regimental major on 20 June 1727, and in 1738 was appointed colonel of the 6th foot, then in Ireland. His regiment followed the expedition to Carthagena under Cathcart and Vernon, in which Guise held the rank of brigadier-general. With twelve hundred men he attacked the castle of St. Lazar, Carthagena. After carrying the enemy's outworks and withstanding a most disastrous fire for several hours, the attack was withdrawn with the loss of six hundred killed and wounded. Guise became a major-general in 1742, Lieutenant-general in 1745, and general in 1762. The 6th foot was in the north of Scotland in 1745, and is repeatedly alluded to in accounts of the early part of the rebellion under the name of 'Guise's' regiment. Horace Walpole speaks of Guise as a very brave officer, but an incorrigible romancer. He writes to Sir Horace Mann: ‘When your relative, General Guise, was marching up to Carthagena, and the pelicans were wheeling round him, he said, “What would Chloe [the Duke of Newcastle's French cook] give for some of these to make a pelican pie!” What a pity that a man who can deal in hyperboles at the mouth of a cannon should be so fond of making them with a glass of wine in his hand! I have heard him affirm that the colliers at Newcastle feed their children with shovels’ (Letters, ii. 398). Guise had a collection of paintings which he greatly valued and bequeathed to Christ Church, Oxford. Walpole says the university employed the son of Bonus, the cleaner of pictures, to repair them, and he repainted and utterly spoiled them all (ib. iii. 330). Guise died in London on 12 June 1765.

[Cat. of Oxford Graduates; Hamilton's Grenadier Guards, vol. ii.; Cannon's Hist. Rec. 6th Royal Warwickshire Foot; H. Walpole's Letters, vols. i. ii. iii. v.; Gent. Mag. 1765, 299.]

H. M. C.