DOUGLAS, SIR HOWARD, BART. British general, younger son of Admiral Sir Charles Douglas, was born at Gosport in 1776. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in 1794. In 1795 he was shipwrecked while in charge of a draft for Canada, and lived with his men for a whole winter on the Labrador coast. In 5804 he was placed in charge of the senior department of the R.M.C. at High Wycombe, the fore runner of the Staff College. Douglas served in 18o8–o9 and again in 1812 in the Peninsula, but was recalled to the Royal Military College. In 1816 appeared his Essay on the Principles and Con struction of Military Bridges (subsequent editions 1832, 1853); in 1819, Observations on the Motives, Errors and Tendency of M. Carnot's System of Defence, and in 1820 his Treatise on Naval Gunnery, which became a standard text-book, and indeed first drew attention to the subject of which it treated. From 1823 to 1831 Sir Howard Douglas was governor of New Brunswick, and had to deal with the Maine boundary dispute of 1828. He also founded Fredericton college. On his return to Europe he published Naval Evolutions, a controversial work dealing with the question of "breaking the line" (1832). Douglas was lord high commis sioner of the Ionian islands (1835-4o), and sat in Parliament from 1842 to 1847. His later works included Observations on the Modern System of Fortification, etc. (1859) and Naval War fare Under Steam (1858 and 186o). He died on Nov. 9, 1861, at Tunbridge Wells. Douglas was a F.R.S., one of the founders of the R.G.S., and held many honours. He was created full general in 1851.
See S. W. Fullom, Life of Sir Howard Douglas (1862), and Gentle man's Magazine, 3rd series, xii. 9o=92.