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|awards=Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath |relations= |laterwork= }} Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton GCB (24 August 1758〔 – 18 June 1815) was a Welsh British Army officer who fought in a number of campaigns for Britain in the Napoleonic wars. According to the historian Alessandro Barbero, Picton was "respected for his courage and feared for his irascible temperament." The Duke of Wellington called him "a rough foul-mouthed devil as ever lived", but very capable. Picton came to public attention initially for his alleged cruelty during his governorship of Trinidad, as a result of which he was put on trial in England for illegally torturing a woman. Though he was convicted, the conviction was later overturned. He is chiefly remembered for his exploits under Wellington in the Iberian Peninsular War, during which he fought in many engagements displaying great bravery and persistence. He was killed fighting at the Battle of Waterloo, during a crucial bayonet charge in which his division stopped d'Erlon's corps' attack against the allied centre left. He was the most senior officer to die at Waterloo. ==Early life== Thomas Picton was the seventh of twelve children of Thomas Picton (1723–1790) of Poyston, Pembrokeshire, Wales, and his wife, Cecil née Powell (1728–1806).〔Havard 2004.〕 He was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire on (probably) 24 August 1758.〔 In 1771 he obtained an ensign's commission in the 12th Regiment of Foot, but he did not join until two years later. The regiment was then stationed at Gibraltar, where he remained until he was made captain in the 75th in January 1778, at which point he then returned to Britain. The regiment was disbanded five years later, and Picton quelled a mutiny amongst the men by his prompt personal action and courage, and was promised the rank of major as a reward. He did not receive it, and after living in retirement on his father's estate for nearly twelve years, he went out to the West Indies in 1794 on the strength of a slight acquaintance with Sir John Vaughan, the commander-in-chief, who made him his ''aide-de-camp'' and gave him a captaincy in the 17th foot. Shortly afterwards he was promoted major in the 58th foot.〔He was probably still acting in a 'staff' role rather than (simply) as a regimental officer : Fortescue ''History of the British Army'' notes him 'making his first appearance in these pages' directing reinforcements to various islands without need for reference to Vaughan〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thomas Picton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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