Pencil Sketch of Sir George Townshend Walker from the diary of Helen Caldcleugh, his second wife

Sir George was commissioned as an ensign in the 95th Regiment of Foot in 1782.

He served in the Flanders Campaign and was then given command of the 50th Regiment of Foot in October 1799 and subsequently commanded his regiment at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars.

He went on to command a brigade during the Walcheren Campaign in 1809

and again at the Siege of Badajoz in 1812 during the Peninsular War.  

Sir George became Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army in 1825 before retiring from that post in 1831.

In 1837 he became Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea until his death in 1842, and

served as Groom of the Chamber to HRH the Duke of Sussex (Augustus Frederick, 6th son of George III). 

He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Military Division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath,

on the augmentation of the Order in 1815, and was promoted to the dignity of a Knight Grand Cross

on the 21st April 1817.

He also received permission from the King on the 18th May 1815, to receive the insignia of a

Knight Commander of the Tower and Sword of Portugal.

Sir George was further created a Baronet of the United Kingdom,

styled of ‘Castleton in the County of Monmouthshire’ on the 28th March 1835.