Sir William Green, 1st Baronet

Who was Sir William Green, 1st Baronet?

General Sir William Green, 1st Baronet, of Marass, Kent was an officer in the British Army. After receiving a private education in Aberdeen, Scotland and a military education at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, England, he was appointed as a practitioner engineer in 1743. Green served on the European continent until 1752, after which he was in Canada. There, he continued to advance through both the ordinary military and engineering ranks. Following his return to England, Green was named senior engineer for Gibraltar about 1761, and the next year promoted to lieutenant colonel. He was promoted to chief engineer for Gibraltar in 1770, and designed and executed a number of military works on the Rock. In 1772, his idea of a regiment of military artificers, to replace the civilian mechanics who had formerly constructed military works, came to fruition in the form of the Soldier Artificer Company, the predecessor of the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners. Their works included the King's Bastion, which Green designed. Promoted to colonel in 1777, he served as chief engineer throughout the Great Siege of Gibraltar. During the siege, he was promoted to brigadier general, then major general. He returned to England in 1783; three years later a baronetcy was created for him. He was appointed chief engineer of Great Britain in 1786. His promotions included that to lieutenant general in 1793 and full general in 1798. Following his retirement in 1802, he settled in Plumstead, Kent.