Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey

Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey (born 1729, Howick, Northumberland, Eng.—died Nov. 14, 1807, Howick) was a British general in the American Revolution who commanded in victories in several battles, notably against the American general Anthony Wayne and at the Battle of Germantown (1777–78).

The member of an old Northumberland family and son of Sir Henry Grey, Baronet, Grey entered the army at age 19 and, by 1755, had become lieutenant colonel, serving with forces in France and Germany in the years 1757–61 and in the capture of Havana (1762). Out of service, on half-pay, after the peace of 1763, he returned to service as a colonel in 1772. In 1776 he went to America with General Sir William Howe, receiving the rank of major general. His successes as a commander were remarkable in the northern theatre from Pennsylvania to eastern Massachusetts. His night attack with the bayonet on the American camp at Paoli in 1777, widely denounced as an atrocity, earned him the cognomen “No-Flint Grey.” After returning home in 1778, he was promoted to lieutenant general in 1782 and appointed commander in chief in America, though, the war soon ending, he never took command. After the French Revolution he saw service in the West Indies. He retired and was given a barony in 1801; in 1806 he was raised to Viscount Howick and Earl Grey.