LYNEDOCH, THOMAS GRAHAM, 1ST BARON (1748 1843), British general, was the son of Thomas Graeme, laird of Balgowan, and was born on Oct. 19, 1748. Graham was travelling in the Mediterranean when he fell in with Lord Hood's fleet on its way to Toulon. He joined it as a volunteer, served on Lord Mulgrave's staff during the British occupation of Toulon, and returned, after the failure of the expedition, to Scotland, where he organized a regiment of infantry, the 90th Foot, Perthshire Volunteers (now 2nd Battalion Scottish Rifles). Graham's men were the first regiment in the army to be equipped and trained wholly as light infantry, though they were not officially recognized as such for many years. In the same year Graham be came member of Parliament, in the Whig interests, for the county of Perth. He saw some active service in 1795 in "conjunct expe ditions" of the army and navy, and in 1796, being then a brevet colonel, he was appointed British commissioner at the head quarters of the Austrian army in Italy. He then served in further "conjunct" operations in the Mediterranean. He sat for Perth shire in parliament until the year 1807. Graham was with Moore in Sweden in 1808 and also in Spain from 1808 to 1809, and he was present at Moore's death at the battle of Corunna. In 5809 he became a major-general, and after taking part in the disastrous Walcheren expedition he was promoted lieutenant-general and sent to Cadiz (18w).
In 1811, acting in conjunction with the Spanish army under General la Pefia (see PENINSULAR WAR), he took the offensive, and won the brilliant action of Barossa (March 5). The victory was made barren of result by the timidity of the Spanish generals, who nevertheless claimed more than their share of the credit. One of the Spanish officers he called out, fought and disarmed, and after refusing with contempt the offer of a Spanish dukedom, he resigned his command in the south and joined Wellington in Portugal. His seniority as lieutenant-general made him second
in command of Wellington's army. He took part in the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, and commanded a wing of the army in the siege of Badajoz and the advance to Salamanca. In July 1812, his eyesight becoming seriously impaired, he went home, but rejoined in time to lead the detached wing of the army in the wide-ranging manoeuvre which culminated in the battle of Vittoria. Graham captured San Sebastian (Sept. 9, 1813). He then went home, but in 1814 accepted the command of a corps to be despatched against Antwerp. His assault on Bergen op Zoom was, however, dis astrously repulsed (Feb. 3, 1814).
At the peace Graham was created Baron Lynedoch of Balgowan in the peerage of the United Kingdom, but refused the offered pension of L200 a year. In 1813 he proposed the formation of a military club in London, and though Lord St. Vincent considered such an assemblage of officers to be unconstitutional, Wellington supported it and the officers of the army and navy at large received the idea with enthusiasm. Lynedoch's portrait, by Sir T. Law rence, is in possession of this club, the (Senior) United Service. In his latter years he resumed the habits of his youth, travelling all over Europe, hunting with the Pytchley so long as he was able to sit his horse, actively concerned in politics and voting con sistently for liberal measures. At the age of ninety-two he hastened from Switzerland to Edinburgh to receive Queen Victoria when she visited Scotland after her marriage. He died in London on Dec. 18, See by John Murray Graham (2nd ed., Edinburgh, 1877) and Captain A. M. Delavoye (London, 188o) ; also the latter's History of the 90th (Perthshire Volunteers) (London, 188o), Philip parts' Royal Military Calendar (I82o), ii. 147, and Gentleman's Magazine, new series, xxi. 197.