In 1694, Thomas Handaysd was promoted
major in the newly-formed
28th Foot, while Roger was appointed
ensign in the same unit. Commissions were then considered private assets and although it was becoming less common, there were no age restrictions. As in this instance, they could be used to reward deserving officers or to provide pensions for the families of those killed in action; Handaysd's contemporary
Henry Hawley was commissioned at the age of nine, after his father died at the
Battle of Steenkerque in 1692. As was customary, Handasyd's duties were performed by a third party, in this case a William Wamlesse. Handasyd attended
Westminster School, where one of his classmates was
Sir John Cope; too young for the 1689 to 1697
Nine Years War, he spent most of the
War of the Spanish Succession on garrison duty in
Jamaica, where his father was Governor. After he retired in 1712, Roger took over his position as Colonel of the
22nd Foot before returning to England in 1714. During the
Jacobite rising of 1715, his unit occupied
Oxford, a measure apparently considered necessary because it was the
Royalist capital in the
First English Civil War. ; Handasyd was appointed Governor, shortly before the
Jacobite rising of 1745 In the
1722 British general election, he was elected
Member of Parliament for
Huntingdon, a constituency near Great Staugham controlled by the Whig
Earl of Sandwich; although he rarely spoke, he was a reliable supporter of the
Walpole administration. In 1730, he purchased the colonelcy of the
16th Foot in 1730 and in 1737 was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of
Fort St. Philip, Menorca; records show he was paid £2,500 per annum for these positions. Handasyd lost his seat in the
1741 British general election, when the Earl of Sandwich withdrew his support for Walpole. One of the consequences was a series of investigations into alleged corruption, including absenteeism and neglect of Menorca; while many such positions were
sinecures and accepted as such, Menorca was an important naval base and absenteeism an ongoing problem. Although Handsyd was criticised for never spending any time there, he managed to shift much of the blame to
Philip Anstruther,
Lieutenant Governor of Menorca. Although his regiment served in the
War of Jenkins' Ear and the
War of the Austrian Succession, he did not accompany it. He became
Lieutenant General in 1743, based on time served; this made him eligible for command, but there were far more generals than positions and many never held an active post. When the
Jacobite rising of 1745 began in August, most of the regular army was in
Flanders; Handasyd was sent to the border fortress of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, which became a key position after the government defeat at
Prestonpans in September. When Sir John Cope arrived in Berwick , he was relieved of command and as senior officer, Handasyd became Commander-in-Chief, Scotland.
General Wade, commander at
Newcastle, instructed him to establish a supply base at Berwick and obtain information on rebel movements. , ca 1750 where Handasyd rented a house; he died here on 4 January 1763 The Jacobites spent the next month in
Edinburgh debating strategy, before marching into England on 6 November; ordered to re-occupy it, Handasyd did so with what Wade considered excessive caution but he entered the town on 14 November without opposition. The Jacobites reached
Derby before returning to Scotland in late December; Handasyd's brief spell in command ended when Henry Hawley arrived in Edinburgh on 5 January and took over as Commander-in-Chief. After the Rising was defeated in April, Hawley was replaced by the
Earl of Albemarle, complaints by Handasyd he should have been appointed instead were ignored. The Whigs had split into two factions and in the
1747 British general election, he was returned as MP for
Scarborough, a seat controlled by the
Earl of Carlisle, part of the smaller
Patriot Whig grouping. In 1749, he became a Council member of the Free British Fishery Society, a group set up to revive the British deep-sea herring fishery, which was then dominated by the Dutch. In 1751, Handasyd made a rare speech in Parliament defending the
Duke of Cumberland; he later wrote to the Prime Minister, the
Duke of Newcastle, asking for a 'better regiment' but his request was rejected. At the
1754 British general election, he stepped down from Parliament, despite having been offered his old seat of Huntingdon. He died at his London residence in Hanover Square on 4 January 1763. ==References==