The son of
Etienne Delancey and
Anne Van Cortland, De Lancey was born on September 17, 1718, in
New York City,
Province of New York. The De Lancey family was of
Huguenot descent. From 1754 to 1757, De Lancey served as a New York alderman for the Out Ward and was a member of the New York assembly from New York County from 1756 to 1761. During the
French and Indian War, he was selected by the New York Assembly, with the support of his brother
James, then acting Governor, to provide provisions for New York provincial units. During the war, De Lancey commanded the
New York Provincial Militia, 1755–1763, and commanded a provincial detachment in the
Ticonderoga campaign of 1758. In 1766, De Lancey was one of the judges in the Pendergast case, in which the alleged leader of the
Dutchess County land rebels was convicted and sentenced to death. De Lancey was a member of the provincial executive council from 1760 until the
American Revolutionary War. In 1768, he allied himself with
Isaac Sears and the
Sons of Liberty. De Lancey spoke out against the
Boston Port Act of 1774 but did not support nonimportation. He was one of the persons responsible for the creation of the
Committee of Fifty. In 1773, he was appointed colonel in chief of the Southern Military District. During the war, De Lancey was a senior officer in the
Loyalist irregular military hierarchy. He joined
Sir William Howe on
Staten Island in 1776, and he and his nephew raised and equipped the three battalions of
De Lancey's Brigade, consisting of fifteen hundred Loyalist volunteers from the
Province of New York. He served as the brigade's commanding officer on
Long Island. His property was plundered by
Patriots in November 1777 and confiscated in October 1779. De Lancey left New York for England in 1783 and died on October 27, 1785, in
Beverley,
Yorkshire. He was buried in
Beverley Minster, where his grave and memorial can be visited. ==Family==