View source for Richard Church (general)

{{Short description|Military officer (1784–1873)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Richard Church
| honorific_prefix    = Sir
| caption             = Church as a general in the Hellenic Army
| birth_date          = 23 February 1784
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1873|3|20|1784|2|23|df=yes}}
| death_place         = [[Athens]], [[Kingdom of Greece]]
| image               = Richard Church.png
| birth_place         = [[Cork (city)|Cork]], [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] (now [[Republic of Ireland]])
| allegiance          = {{UK}}<br>[[File:Flag of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1816).svg|23px]] [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]]<br>{{Flagicon|Greece|old}} [[First Hellenic Republic]]<br>{{flagicon|Greece|royal}} [[Kingdom of Greece]]
| branch              = [[File:Flag of the British Army (1938-present).png|20px]] [[British Army]]<br>{{army|Greece}}
| office1             = [[Greek Senate|Member of the Greek Senate]]
| termstart1          = 1844
| termend1            = 1845
| monarch1            = [[Otto of Greece|Otto]]
| unit                = [[Somerset Light Infantry]]<br>[[Royal Corsican Rangers]]<br>[[1st Regiment Greek Light Infantry]]<br>[[2nd Regiment Greek Light Infantry]]
| battles             = 
{{tree list}}
[[French Revolutionary Wars]]
* [[War of the Second Coalition]]
** [[French campaign in Egypt and Syria]]
*** [[Battle of Abukir (1801)|Battle of Abukir]]
* [[Napoleonic Wars]]
** [[War of the Third Coalition]]
*** [[Invasion of Naples (1806)|Invasion of Naples]]
**** [[Battle of Maida]]
** [[Adriatic campaign of 1807–1814|Adriatic Campaign]]
** [[Siege of Santa Maura (1810)|Siege of Santa Maura]]{{WIA}}
* [[Greek War of Independence]]
** [[Siege of the Acropolis (1826–1827)|Second Siege of the Acropolis]]
{{tree list/end}}
| spouse              = Marie-Anne Wilmot
| relations           = [[Richard William Church]] (nephew)
| resting_place       = [[First Cemetery of Athens]]
| serviceyears        = 1800-1829<br>1833-1854
| rank                = [[Lieutenant-Colonel]] (British Army)<br>[[Lieutenant General]] (Sicilian Army)<br>[[General]] (Hellenic Army)
| awards              = [[File:Order of the Bath UK ribbon.svg|30px]] [[Order of the Bath]]<br>[[File:UK Royal Guelphic Order ribbon.svg|30px]] Grand Knight Cross of the [[Royal Guelphic Order]]<br>[[File:GRE Order Redeemer 1Class.svg|30px]] Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Redeemer]]
| honorific_suffix    = [[Order of the Bath|CB]] [[Royal Guelphic Order|GCH]]
}}

'''Sir Richard Church''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CB|GCH}} ({{Langx|el|Ριχάρδος/Ρίτσαρντ Τσούρτς/Τσωρτς<ref>Fotios Chrisanthopoulos (Fotakos), [http://www.phys.uoa.gr/~nektar/history/3contemporary/fwtakos_bioi_peloponnhsiwn_andrwn.htm "ΤΣΟΥΡΤΣ", in: ''Βίοι Πελοποννησίων Ανδρών'', Athens, 1888.]</ref><ref>''Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Εθνους'', vol. IB', Athens: Ekdotiki Athinon, 1975.</ref>}}; 23 February 1784 &ndash; 20 March 1873)<ref group="Notes">For the date of death see relevant Section of the article explaining the discrepancy of sources</ref> was an [[Anglo-Irish people|Anglo-Irish]] military officer in the [[British Army]] and commander of the Greek forces during the last stages of the [[Greek War of Independence]] after 1827. After Greek independence, he became a general in the [[Hellenic Army]] and a member of the [[Greek Senate]].

== Early life and career ==

He was the second son of Matthew Church, a [[Quaker]] merchant in the North Mall area of [[Cork (city)|Cork]], Ireland, and Anne Dearman, originally from Braithwaith, [[Yorkshire]], England.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Irish Examiner|date=30 March 1971|page=5|via=Irishnewsarchive.com}}</ref> At the age of 16, he ran away from home and enlisted in the [[British Army]]. For this violation of its principles he was disowned by the [[Society of Friends]], but his father bought him a commission, dated 3 July 1800, in the [[The Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's)|13th (Somersetshire) Light Infantry]]. He served in the demonstration against [[Ferrol, Spain|Ferrol]], and in the expedition to Egypt under [[Ralph Abercromby|Sir Ralph Abercromby]] in 1801, where he took part in the [[Battle of Abukir (1801)|Battle of Abukir]] and the taking of Alexandria. After the expulsion of the French from Egypt he returned home, but went back to the [[Mediterranean]] in 1805 among the troops sent to defend the island of [[Sicily]]. He accompanied the expedition which landed in [[Calabria]], and fought a successful battle against the French at the [[Battle of Maida]] on 4 July 1806. Church was present on this occasion as captain of a recently raised company of [[Royal Corsican Rangers]]. His zeal attracted the notice of his superiors, and he had begun to show his capacity for managing and drilling foreign levies. His Corsicans formed part of the garrison of [[Capri]] from October 1806 till the island was taken by an expedition directed against it by [[Joachim Murat]], in September 1808, at the very beginning of his reign as king of [[Naples]]. Church, who had distinguished himself in the defence, returned to [[Malta]] after the capitulation.<ref name="Hannay 1911, p. 325">{{EB1911|inline=1|last=Hannay |first=David McDowall |authorlink=David Hannay (historian)|wstitle=Church, Sir Richard |volume=6 |page=325}}</ref>

[[File:Richard Church Greek Light Infantry of the Duke of York 1813 by Denis Dighton.jpg|thumb|Richard Church as a major in the uniform of the 1st Regiment Greek Light Infantry, 1813|left]]

In the summer of 1809 he sailed with the expedition sent to occupy the [[Imperial French rule in the Ionian Islands|French-occupied]] [[Ionian Islands]]. Here he increased the reputation he had already gained by forming a Greek regiment in British pay.<ref name="Hannay 1911, p. 325"/> On 9 September 1809 he took the position of Major in the [[1st Regiment Greek Light Infantry]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/topictermdetail.asp?BackURL=&SearchType=5&fldAFGroup=4&fldAFTermID=11740 | title=Greek Light Infantry | access-date=2010-12-22 | publisher=The National Archives}}</ref> On 19 November 1812 he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the unit, by then renamed The Duke of York's Greek Light Infantry Regiment (1811 – 24 February 1816).<ref name="RoyalMilCalend">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/royalmilitaryca01goog | quote=37th Foot Richard Church. | title=The Royal military calendar, or Army service and commission book, Volume 4 | access-date=2011-01-01 | author=John Philippart | date=1820 | edition=3 | publisher=A.J. Valpy, sold by T. Egerton | pages=[https://archive.org/details/royalmilitaryca01goog/page/n462 436]–437}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/topictermdetail.asp?fldAFGroup=4&fldAFTermID=11741&j=1 | title=1st (The Duke of York's) Greek Light Infantry Regiment (1811-1816) | access-date=2010-12-22 | publisher=The National Archives}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/Britain/Infantry/c_deathsdesertion.html | title=Heroes and Villains: Death and Desertion in the British Army 1811 to 1813 | access-date=2011-01-02 | author=Steve Brown}}</ref> Having got the experience of managing foreign troops, he commanded the regiments made up from Greeks he recruited himself in 1813, when he formed a second regiment composed of 454 Greeks ([[2nd Regiment Greek Light Infantry]]) to occupy Paxoi islands.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0JXCgJCQFkC&q=%22Greek+Light+Infantry%22 | title=Émigré & Foreign Troops in British Service (2) 1803-15 | access-date=2011-01-02 | author=René Chartrand, Patrice Courcelle | date=2000 | publisher=Osprey Publishing | pages=20| isbn=9781855328594 }}</ref> These regiments included many of the men who were afterwards among the leaders of the Greeks in the [[Greek War of Independence|War of Independence]] including [[Theodoros Kolokotronis]], with whom he kept a friendship and correspondence. Church commanded this regiment at the taking of the island of [[Santa Maura]] (Lefkada), on which occasion his left arm was shattered by a bullet.<ref name="Hannay 1911, p. 325"/>

During his slow recovery he travelled in northern Greece, in [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], and to [[Ottoman Constantinople|Constantinople]]. In the years of the fall of [[Napoleon]] (1813 and 1814) he was present as British military representative with the Austrian troops until the campaign which terminated in the expulsion of [[Joachim Murat|Murat]] from [[Naples]]. He drew up a report on the Ionian Islands for the [[congress of Vienna]], in which he argued in support, not only of the retention of the islands under the British flag, but of the permanent occupation by Britain of [[Parga]] and of other formerly Venetian coastal towns on the mainland, then in the possession of [[Ali Pasha of Yanina]]. The peace and the disbanding of his Greek regiment left him without employment, though his reputation was high at the war office, and his services were recognized by the grant of a [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]].<ref name="Hannay 1911, p. 325"/>

In 1817, he entered the service of [[Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies|King Ferdinand of Naples]] as lieutenant-general, with a commission to suppress the brigandage then rampant in [[Apulia]]. Ample powers were given him, and he attained a full measure of success. In 1820 he was appointed governor of [[Palermo]] and commander-in-chief of the troops in [[Sicily]]. The revolution which broke out in that year led to the termination of his services in Naples. He escaped from violence in Sicily with some difficulty. At Naples he was imprisoned and put on his trial by the government, but was acquitted and released in January 1821; and [[George IV of the United Kingdom|King George IV]] conferred on him a [[Royal Guelphic Order|Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order]] in 1822.<ref name="Hannay 1911, p. 325"/> He was further promoted to Knight Grand Cross by [[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]] in 1837.

== Role in the Greek War of Independence ==
[[File:Gen. Richard Church Str. historical sing in Athens.jpg|thumb|A special street name sign providing historical information on General Richard Church, placed on ''Tzortz Street'' ("George", from [[:el:wikt:Τσωρτς|Τσωρτς]] ["Chōrch"]) in [[Athens]], after whom the road was named.]]
The rising of the Greeks against the [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]], which began at this time, had his full sympathy from the first. But for some years he had to act only as the friend of the insurgents in England. In 1827 he took the honourable but unfortunate step of accepting the commandership-in-chief of the Greek army. At the point of anarchy and indiscipline to which they had now fallen, the Greeks could no longer form an efficient army, and could look for salvation only to foreign intervention. Sir Richard Church, who landed in March, was sworn ''archistrategos'' on 15 April 1827. But he could not secure loyal co-operation or obedience. The rout of his army in an attempt to relieve the [[acropolis]] of [[Athens]], then besieged by the Ottomans, proved that it was incapable of conducting regular operations. The acropolis capitulated, and Sir Richard turned to partisan warfare in western Greece.<ref name="Hannay 1911, p. 325"/>

After the Battle of Navarino, and during the [[Ioannis Kapodistrias|Kapodistrias]] period, he was placed commander-in-chief of the Greek regular forces in Central Greece, together with [[Demetrios Ypsilantis]].

Church, however, surrendered his commission, as a protest against the unfriendly government of Capodistrias, on 25 August 1829. He lived for the rest of his life in Greece.<ref name="Hannay 1911, p. 325"/>

== Role in independent Greece ==

His activity had beneficial results and led to a rectification in 1832, in a sense favourable to Greece, of the frontier drawn by the Great Powers in the [[London Protocol (1830)]] (see his ''Observations on an Eligible Line of Frontier for Greece'', London, 1830).

Under King [[Otto of Greece|Otto]], he occupied senior military positions. On 3 October 1833, he was promoted to lieutenant general in the Hellenic Army, and in January 1835 became commander of the forces in [[Central Greece (geographic region)|Continental Greece]]. On 10 June 1835 he was appointed head of the Secretariat of State for Military Affairs (Army Minister), becoming Inspector-General of the Army on 28 October 1836. In 1844–45 he was a [[Greek Senate|senator]].<ref name="Malesis"/> He was promoted to full general—the grade being established for the first time for this purpose in the Hellenic Army—in February 1854,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.et.gr/idocs-nph/search/pdfViewerForm.html?args=5C7QrtC22wEYxo2uzXoZ9XdtvSoClrL8N0XblcQU3VEpCCmqt4mgGEHlbmahCJFQEmRQwePEviF8EeCoaT0MAHMVkXOQVPXqkhbHElfebk8uMzVR27tk-OrVzN5WyYg7gLBensguueM. | title = Royal Decree of 10 February 1854, published in the Government Gazette Nr. 6/1854 | language = el}}</ref> and died at Athens in 1873.<ref name="Malesis">{{cite thesis | type = PhD thesis | title = Ο Ελληνικός Στρατός στην πρώτη Οθωνική δεκαετία (1833-1843). Πολιτική οργάνωση και πελατειακές σχέσεις |trans-title=The Greek Army in the First Othonian Decade (1833-1843). Political Organization and Clientelistic Relations | last = Malesis | first = Dimitris | year = 1993 | publisher = [[Panteion University]] | doi = 10.12681/eadd/3258 | page = 212 (note 13)| hdl = 10442/hedi/3258 | hdl-access = free }}</ref>

==Family==

Sir Richard Church married Marie-Anne, daughter of [[Sir Robert Wilmot, 2nd Baronet]] of Osmaston in Worthing, on 17 Aug 1826<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/john-debrett/debretts-baronetage-of-england--with-alphabetical-lists-of-such-baronetcies-as-hci/page-43-debretts-baronetage-of-england--with-alphabetical-lists-of-such-baronetcies-as-hci.shtml|title=Read the eBook Debrett's Baronetage of England : with alphabetical lists of such baronetcies as have merged in the peerage, or have become extinct, and also of the existing baronets of Nova Scotia and Ireland; by John Debrett online for free (page 43 of 95)|website=www.ebooksread.com|accessdate=7 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LIY3AAAAYAAJ&q=Gentleman%27s%20magazine%20and%20historical%20chronicle%2C%20Volume%2096%2C%20Part%202%201826&pg=PA172 | title=Gentleman's magazine and historical chronicle, Volume 96, Part 2 | access-date=2010-12-10 | year=1826 | pages=172}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NyIoAAAAYAAJ&q=Oriental%20herald%20and%20journal%20of%20general%20literature%20volume%2010&pg=PA595 | title=Oriental herald and journal of general literature, Volume 10 | access-date=2010-12-11 | year=1826 | pages=595}}</ref><ref>The Annual register of world events: a review of the year: Volume 115, Edmund Burke – 1874</ref>
{{#tag:ref|There are also references such as the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica which mention that his wife was "Elizabeth Augusta Wilmot-Horton, who survived him till 1878".<ref name="Hannay 1911, p. 325"/> However there are secondary as well as primary sources which confirm that he married Marie-Anne, daughter of [[Sir Robert Wilmot, 2nd Baronet]] of Osmaston{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}|group="Notes"}}

He was the uncle of English churchman and writer [[Richard William Church]].<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=5388|title=Church, Sir Richard}}</ref>

==Death==

[[File:Grave of Sir Richard Church.jpg|thumb|200px|Grave of Sir Richard Church, Athens.]]

He died after an illness on Thursday, {{OldStyleDate|20 March|1873|8 March}} and he was buried at the [[First Cemetery of Athens]] at public expense on {{OldStyleDateNY|27 March|15 March}}.<ref name="Alitheia">[http://srv-web1.parliament.gr/display_doc.asp?item=42955&seg=10049 ''Alitheia'', 9 March 1873] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721082727/http://srv-web1.parliament.gr/display_doc.asp?item=42955&seg=10049 |date=21 July 2011 }} (digital page 1122)</ref><ref name="Drandaki">{{cite encyclopedia | title=Τσώρτς, Ριχάρδος | encyclopedia=P. Drandarkis, Μεγάλη Ελληνική Εγκυκλοπαίδεια | year=1932 | volume= 23 (ΚΓ') | edition=1 (Α') | publisher=Pyrsos}}</ref><ref name="Elefther">{{cite encyclopedia | title=Lemma Richard Church (Τσώρτς) | encyclopedia=Εγκυκλοπαιδικό Λεξικό Ελευθερουδάκη | year=1931 | volume= 12 | publisher=Eleftheroudakis | location=Athens}}</ref><ref name="pedigree">{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/stream/wellscathedralit00jewerich#page/276/mode/2up | title=Wells Cathedral: its monumental inscriptions and heraldry: together with the heraldry of the palace, deanery, and vicar's close: with annotations from wills, registers, etc., and illustrations of arms (1892) | access-date=2010-12-18 | author=Arthur John Jewers | year=1892 | publisher=Nichel and Hughes | location=London}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Primary<ref name="Alitheia"/> and secondary sources<ref name="Drandaki"/> indicate that his date of death was 8 March {{smaller|<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Old Style and New Style dates|N.S.]] 20&nbsp;March]}} 1873, while the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' and the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' give 30 March as the date of death.<ref name="Hannay 1911, p. 325"/><ref name="ODNB" />|group="Notes"}} The funeral took place after a delay in waiting for his nephew, who was expected to come from England.

The funeral service took place in the Anglican Church in Filellinon Street in the presence of King [[George I of Greece|George I]] and a large numbers of official guests. The funeral monument is at the First Cemetery of Athens, opposite the Church of St. Lazarus, and it has an inscription in English on the front ("Richard Church, General, who having given himself and all he had, to rescue a Christian race from oppression, and to make Greece a nation, lived for her service, and died among her people, rests here in peace and faith") and Greek on the back. On 15 March, the [[Minister for Justice (Greece)|Minister of Justice]], [[Panagiotis Chalkiopoulos]], gave the funeral speech in Greek,<ref name ="Xalkiop">{{Cite web|url=http://srv-web1.parliament.gr/display_doc.asp?item=42969&seg=10063|title=''Aion'', No. 2893, 21 March 1873 (digital page 502), Funeral Speech to Richard Church, General and Grand Cross given at the Cemetery of Athens by P. Chalkipoulos, Minister of Justice|website=srv-web1.parliament.gr|accessdate=7 January 2023}}</ref> while {{ill|John Gennadius|el|Ιωάννης Γεννάδιος}} gave a speech in English.<ref name="Gennadios">{{cite web | url=http://anemi.lib.uoc.gr/metadata/c/6/f/metadata-264-0000121.tkl | title=Funeral speech to the late Philellen General Sir Richard Church, given at the First Cemetery of Athens on the 15th of March 1873| access-date=2010-12-19 | author=Γεννάδιος, Ιωάννης (1844-1932) | year=1873 | publisher=Typois Efimeridos Sizitiseon (Τύποις Εφημερίδος των Συζητήσεων)}}</ref><ref>[http://srv-web1.parliament.gr/display_doc.asp?item=42955&seg=10049 Alitheia, issue 1842, Friday, 16 March 1873] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721082727/http://srv-web1.parliament.gr/display_doc.asp?item=42955&seg=10049 |date=21 July 2011 }} (digital page 1132)</ref>

==Notes==

<references group="Notes"/>

==Sources==
{{Reflist}}

==References==

* Stanley Lane Poole, ''[https://archive.org/details/sirrichardchurch00lanerich Sir Richard Church]'' (London, 1890)
* E. M. Church, ''[https://archive.org/details/chaptersinanadv00churgoog Chapters in an Adventurous Life: Sir Richard Church in Italy and Greece]'' (Edinburgh, 1895) based on family papers (an Italian version, ''Brigantaggio e societé segrete nelle Fugue'', 1817–28, executed under the direction of Carlo Lacaita, appeared at [[Florence]] in 1899).
*''The Manuscripts Correspondence and Papers of Sir Richard Church'', in 29 vols, now in the [[British Library]] (Add MSS 36543-36571), contain invaluable material for the history of the [[War of Greek Independence]], including a narrative of the war during Church's tenure of the command, which corrects many errors in the published accounts and successfully vindicates Church's reputation against the strictures of [[George Finlay|Finlay]], Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, and other historians of the war (see ''Cam. Mod. Hist.'' x. p.&nbsp;804).
* Moises Enrique Rodriguez, ''Under the Flags of Freedom: British Mercenaries in the War of the Two Brothers, the First Carlist War, and the Greek War of Independence (1821-1840)'' (Lanham, Maryland, 2009)
'''Attribution:'''
* {{EB1911|last=Hannay |first=David McDowall |wstitle=Church, Sir Richard |volume=6 |page=325}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Greek War of Independence|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Church, Richard}}
[[Category:1784 births]]
[[Category:1873 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Anglo-Irish people]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Hellenic Army generals]]
[[Category:Greek people of English descent]]
[[Category:Military personnel from County Cork]]
[[Category:Irish generals]]
[[Category:Irish Anglicans]]
[[Category:Irish knights]]
[[Category:Irish people of English descent]]
[[Category:Anglo-Irish people]]
[[Category:British philhellenes in the Greek War of Independence]]
[[Category:Somerset Light Infantry officers]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of Greece]]
[[Category:Members of the Greek Senate]]
[[Category:Burials at the First Cemetery of Athens]]
[[Category:1st Regiment Greek Light Infantry officers]]
[[Category:History of Greece (1832–1862)]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars]]