Charles Colville was the third son of
John Colville, 8th Lord Colville of Culross and Amelia Webber, in the peerage of Scotland, was born on 7 August 1770. In 1818 Colville married Jane Mure 27 May 1843), eldest daughter of William Mure of Caldwell. He had two sons,
Charles John (23 Nov 1818 – 1 Jul 1903) and William James (9 Mar 1827 – 16 Oct 1903; in 1850 a lieutenant in the
Rifle Brigade—the 95th), and two daughters, Catherine Dorothea (d. 26 Feb 1904) and Georgina Clementina (d. 18 Mar 1871). Upon the death of his elder brother, Admiral
John Colville, 9th Lord Colville of Culross, in 1849 (without heirs), His eldest son was, in 1850, a major in the artillery.
Military service Colville entered the army as an ensign in the
28th regiment on 26 December 1781, but did not join until 1787, in which year he was promoted lieutenant. In May 1791 he was promoted captain into the
13th Somersetshire Light Infantry, with which he remained for nineteen years, until he became a major-general. He joined it in December 1791 in the
West Indies, and remained with it until its return to England in 1797, seeing much service in the interval, especially in
San Domingo, and being promoted major 1 September 1795 and to lieutenant-colonel 26 August 1796. Colville commanded the 13th in the suppression of the
Irish Rebellion of 1798, and in the expeditions to
Ferrol and
Egypt. In Egypt, his regiment formed part of Major-General
John Cradock's brigade, and distinguished itself in the battles of
Abukir,
Mandora, and
Canope, and in the subsequent investment of the French garrison at
Alexandria. On leaving Egypt, Colville, who had there established his reputation as a good regimental officer, took his regiment to
Gibraltar, where he remained until 1805, in which year he was promoted to colonel. After a short period in England he went with his regiment to
Bermuda in 1808, and in 1809 he was made a brigadier-general and commanded the 2nd brigade of
George Prevost's division in the capture of
Martinique. On 25 July 1810, Colville was promoted major-general and at once applied for a command in the Iberian Peninsula. In October 1810 he took over the command of the 1st brigade of the 3rd Division, which was under the command of
Thomas Picton. He soon became not only Picton's trusted lieutenant, but one of
Wellington's favourite brigadiers. He commanded his brigade in the pursuit after
Massena, and in the
Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, shared the superintendence of the trenches with Major-General
John Hamilton at the second siege of
Badajoz. He also commanded the infantry in the
affair at El Bodón on 25 September 1811, and the 4th division in the place of Major-General Cole in the successful siege of
Ciudad Rodrigo. He shared the superintendence of the trenches in the third and last siege of
Badajoz with Generals Bowes and Kempt (who replaced the wounded Picton), and commanded the 4th division in the storming of the Trinidad
bastion, where he was shot through the left thigh and lost a finger of his right hand. Colville had to go to England for his cure, and thus missed the
battle of Salamanca, but returned to the Peninsula in October 1812 and commanded the 3rd division in winter quarters until superseded by the arrival of General Picton. He commanded his brigade only at the
Battle of Vitoria, where he was slightly wounded, but was specially appointed by Lord Wellington to the temporary command of the 6th division from August to November 1813, when he reverted to the 3rd division, which he commanded at the battles of the
Nivelle and the
Nive. He was again superseded by the arrival of Sir Thomas Picton, but in February 1814 Lord Wellington appointed him permanently to the 5th division in the place, of Sir
James Leith. With it he served under Sir
John Hope in the siege of
Bayonne, and it was Colville who superintended the final embarkation of the last English troops left in France. Colville's services were well-rewarded; he received a cross with one clasp; he was made a
K.C.B. in January and a
G.C.B. in March, 1815; he was appointed colonel of the
94th regiment in April 1815. When the
return of Napoleon from
Elba made it necessary for a British Army to be sent to the continent, he was made a local lieutenant-general in the Netherlands at Wellington's special request, and took command of the 4th Division there. Colville's division was posted on the extreme right of the British division at
Halle during the
Battle of Waterloo. To compensate him for not being more actively engaged there, Wellington gave him the duty of storming
Cambrai, the only French fortress which did not immediately surrender. He succeeded with the loss of only thirty men killed and wounded.
Post active-duty service Colville did not again see active service. He was promoted lieutenant-general in 1819, and was commander-in-chief of the
Bombay Army from 1819 to 1825. From 17 June 1828 to 3 February 1833, Colville was 3rd
Governor of
Mauritius when the population of 100,000 (two-thirds in slavery) were in semi revolt against the crown. In 1829 he described the
mentalité esclavagiste (slave mentality) of the island's land owning inhabitants, who were extremely hostile to any reforms of slaves' working conditions. In 1830 he reported that there was "a great deal of bad feeling against His Majesty’s Government continues to prevail and shew itself here… there is an almost total cessation in the payment of taxes..." He was briefly Colonel of the
14th (Buckinghamshire) Regiment before being appointed colonel of the
5th (Northumberland Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot in March 1835. Colville was promoted to general on 10 January 1837, and died on 27 March 1843 at
Rosslyn House,
Hampstead. ==Legacy==