View source for Thomas Picton

{{Short description|British Army officer (1758–1815)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = [[Lieutenant general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]]
| name          = Sir Thomas Picton
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB}}
| birth_date    = {{Birth-date|24 August 1758}}<ref name=dob>Authoritative sources such as Havard 2004 give his date of birth as 24 August 1758. Older sources sometimes give it as 20 August, and this is the date that appears on the plaque on his birthplace.</ref>
| death_date    = {{death date and age|df=yes|1815|6|18|1758|8|24}}
| image         = Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton A17581.jpg
| caption       = ''[[Portrait of Thomas Picton]]'' by [[William Beechey]], c. 1815
| nickname      = 
| birth_place   = [[Haverfordwest]], [[Pembrokeshire]], Wales
| death_place   = [[Waterloo, Belgium|Waterloo]], [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]]<!-- What the place may correspond to on a modern map is a matter for an article's main text.  -->
| placeofburial = [[St George's, Hanover Square]], London (later reburied at [[St Paul's Cathedral]])
| allegiance    = {{Ubl
  | [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]
  | [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
  }}
| branch        = [[British Army]]
| serviceyears  = 1771–1815
| rank          = [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]]
| unit          = 
| commands      = 
| battles       = {{Plainlist|
*[[French Revolutionary Wars]]
*[[Napoleonic Wars]]{{KIA}}}}
| awards        = [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
| relations     = 
| laterwork     = 
}}

[[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]] '''Sir Thomas Picton''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB}} (24 August 1758<ref name=dob/>{{snd}}18 June 1815) was a [[British Army]] officer and colonial administrator. He fought in the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and died at Waterloo. According to the historian [[Alessandro Barbero]], Picton was "respected for his courage and feared for his irascible temperament". The [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]] called him "a rough foul-mouthed devil as ever lived", but found him capable.

While his military prowess is not in doubt, as a colonial administrator he was considered to be a harsh disciplinarian, even by some at the time. He approved the use of [[torture]] during his governorship of [[Trinidad]]. He was put on trial in England for approving the [[Picket (punishment)|picketing]] of a 14-year-old girl.<ref>{{cite web |title=What to do about Thomas Picton? |url=https://museum.wales/blog/2020-06-23/What-to-do-about-Thomas-Picton/ |website=museum.wales |publisher=Wales Museum |access-date=25 June 2020 |archive-date=28 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200628120133/https://museum.wales/blog/2020-06-23/What-to-do-about-Thomas-Picton/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Though initially convicted, Picton later had the conviction overturned arguing that Trinidad was subject to Spanish law, which he was instructed to administer on the island by [[Ralph Abercromby|Sir Ralph Abercromby]] and which permitted the use of torture.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Prior|first=Neil|date=2015-06-18|title=Waterloo's hero and villain|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-33110128|access-date=2020-08-02|archive-date=25 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725212933/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-33110128|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Controversy over his use of torture has revived in recent years and Picton's role in the [[Atlantic slave trade]] has also come under scrutiny (he was a slave owner who was involved in [[Slave catcher|slave catching]]). In 2020, Cardiff Council voted to remove Picton's statue in the "Heroes of Wales" gallery in [[City Hall, Cardiff|Cardiff City Hall]].<ref name="bbc23_7_20"/> In the same year it was reported that a plaque was removed from Picton's birthplace.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Property owner removes plaque to Sir Thomas Picton over safety fears |work=Wales Online |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/thomas-picton-plaque-removed-haverfordwest-18425479 |access-date=15 March 2025 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210182749/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/thomas-picton-plaque-removed-haverfordwest-18425479 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 2022, the [[National Museum Cardiff]] relocated Picton's portrait from its "Faces of Wales" gallery to a side room, accompanied by descriptions of his brutal treatment of the people of Trinidad.<ref name="guardian22">{{cite news |title=Portrait of tyrant Thomas Picton moved to side room in Welsh museum |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/aug/01/portrait-of-tyrant-thomas-picton-moved-to-side-room-in-welsh-museum |work=The Guardian |date=1 August 2022 |access-date=15 March 2025 |archive-date=1 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220801114428/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/aug/01/portrait-of-tyrant-thomas-picton-moved-to-side-room-in-welsh-museum |url-status=live }}</ref> The town of [[Picton, New Zealand|Picton]] in New Zealand, named for Picton, has considered reverting to its [[Māori language|Māori]] name in response to his actions as governor of Trinidad.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Angeloni |first=Alice |date=2020-06-12 |title=Calls to rethink name 'Picton' as history emerges of 'cruel' slave-owner |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121799217/calls-to-rethink-name-picton-as-history-emerges-of-cruel-slaveowner |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Stuff |language=en |archive-date=11 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411004325/https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121799217/calls-to-rethink-name-picton-as-history-emerges-of-cruel-slaveowner |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="brew">{{Cite web |last=Brew |first=Andy |date=2022-09-18 |title=Picton, Waitohi or both? Mixed views on renaming port town |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/300690144/picton-waitohi-or-both-mixed-views-on-renaming-port-town |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Stuff |language=en |archive-date=11 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411004324/https://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/300690144/picton-waitohi-or-both-mixed-views-on-renaming-port-town |url-status=live }}</ref>

Picton was for many years chiefly remembered for his exploits under Wellington in the Iberian [[Peninsular War]] of 1807–1814, during which he displayed great bravery and persistence. He was killed in 1815 fighting at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] whilst commanding the [[5th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|5th Infantry Division]]. During a crucial stage in the battle he was ordered by Wellington to intervene in the Allied centre, which was beginning to buckle under the weight of a heavy French assault. Picton led the 5th division in aggressive counter-advance which stopped [[Jean-Baptiste Drouet (Napoleonic soldier)|d'Erlon]]'s corps' attack against the allied centre left. The manoeuvre however cost Picton his life when he was struck through the head by French shot. His body was carried from the field by soldiers of the [[32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot|32nd Foot]] who Picton had personally led in a bayonet charge against the French line. He was the most senior officer to die at Waterloo. At the time of his death he was a sitting [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]].

==Early life==
[[File:Thomas Picton birthplace.JPG|thumb|Picton's birthplace in Hill Street, [[Haverfordwest]], marked with a commemorative [[blue plaque]]. The house later became the Dragon Hotel.]] 
Thomas Picton was the seventh of 12 children of Thomas Picton (1723–1790) of [[Rudbaxton|Poyston Hall]], [[Pembrokeshire]], Wales, and his wife, Cecil née Powell (1728–1806).<ref name=odnb>Havard 2004.</ref> He was born in [[Haverfordwest]], Pembrokeshire on (probably) 24 August 1758.<ref name=dob/> In 1771 he obtained an [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]]'s [[Commissioned officer|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 (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] in the [[75th Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Regiment)]] in January 1778, at which point he then returned to Britain.<ref name=dnb>{{DNB|wstitle=Picton, Thomas}}</ref>

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 (rank)|major]] as a reward. He did not receive it, and after living in retirement on his father's estate for nearly 12 years, he went out to the [[West Indies]] in 1794 on the strength of a slight acquaintance with Sir [[John Vaughan (British Army officer, died 1795)|John Vaughan]], the commander-in-chief, who made him his ''aide-de-camp'' and gave him a captaincy in the [[17th Regiment of Foot]]. Shortly afterwards he was promoted major in the [[58th Regiment of Foot]].<ref> 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.</ref>

==Career in the New World==
Under Sir [[Ralph Abercromby]], who succeeded Vaughan in 1795, Picton was present at the capture of [[Saint Lucia]] (after which he was promoted to [[lieutenant colonel]] of the [[56th Regiment of Foot]]) and then that of [[Saint Vincent (island)|St Vincent]].<ref name=dnb/>

After the [[Invasion of Trinidad (1797)|reduction of Trinidad]] in 1797, Abercromby made Picton [[List of Governors of Trinidad|governor of the island]]. For the next five years he held the island with a garrison he considered inadequate against the threats of internal unrest and of reconquest by the Spanish. He ensured order by vigorous action, viewed variously as rough-and-ready justice or as arbitrary brutality. Picton was also accused of the execution of a dozen slaves, and the slave trade was partly behind his considerable fortune. Historian Chris Evans said, "Delinquents who were sent for immediate execution might consider themselves lucky; others had to endure mutilation and torture."<ref name="auto">{{cite web|first=Carolyn|last=Hytt|title=The towering figure in Welsh history whose statues and plaques deserve to be taken down|publisher=Wales Online|date=5 May 2018|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/sir-thomas-picton-carolyn-hitt-14619007|access-date=11 June 2020|archive-date=11 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611072536/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/sir-thomas-picton-carolyn-hitt-14619007|url-status=live}}</ref>

In October 1801 he was [[London Gazette|gazetted]] to the local rank of [[brigadier general (United Kingdom)|brigadier-general]].<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=15421|page=1295|date=24–27 October 1801}}</ref> During the negotiations leading to the [[Peace of Amiens]] of 1802, many of the British inhabitants petitioned against the return of the island to Spain; this together with Picton's and Abercromby's representations, ensured the retention of Trinidad as a British possession.<ref name=dnb/>

By then, reports of arbitrariness and brutality associated with his governorship had led to a demand at home for his removal. Picton was also making money from speculation in land and slaves, and his free coloured mistress and mother of four of his children,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Candlin|first=Kit|title=The Last Caribbean Frontier, 1795-1815|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2012|isbn=9780230354081|location=Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies|pages=138–156}}</ref> [[Rosetta Smith]], was believed to be corruptly influencing his decisions. Furthermore, Trinidad no longer faced any external threat, the [[William Pitt the younger|Pitt]] ministry had fallen and the new [[Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth|Addington]] administration did not want Trinidad to develop the [[plantation]] economy Picton favoured. In 1802, [[William Fullarton]] (1754–1808) was appointed as the Senior Member of a commission to govern the island, [[Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet|Samuel Hood]] became the second member, and Picton himself the junior.<ref name=dnb/>

Fullarton had a very different background from Picton. He came from a wealthy and long-established Scots land-owning family and was a [[Whig (British political faction)|Whig]] [[Parliament of Great Britain|MP]], a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]], an improving landlord, and a patron of [[Robert Burns]]. He had been a junior diplomat before raising a regiment in the course of the [[American War of Independence]], of which he naturally became the Colonel. He ended that war in India, commanding an army of 14,000 men in operations against [[Tippu Sultan]].<ref>The general being sacked for incompetence, Fullarton, (a civilian 3 years ago, and fresh to India) was (because he had raised a regiment at his own expense) senior in the [[Army List]] to other colonels present, and hence took command (and acquitted himself well)</ref> Afterwards he had written an influential pamphlet arguing that the [[East India Company]] had brought trouble on itself by its unprincipled treatment of native princes and native subjects, and that a more humane policy would be preferable to "let them hate so long as they fear" (a favourite motto of [[Caligula]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Foss|first=Clive|title=The Tyrants: 2500 Years of Absolute Power and Corruption |year=2006|page= 27 |location=London|publisher=Quercus Publishing|isbn=978-1905204960}}</ref>

Picton's policy with respect to various sections of the island population had effectively been one of rule by fear, and he and Fullarton rapidly fell out. (This, of itself, further worsened the rift: Fullarton's Indian pamphlet had also reported adversely on conflicts of interest and dissension between the English having weakened their ability to govern well, to negotiate effectively, and to effectively defend their possessions.) Fullarton commenced a series of open enquiries on allegations against Picton and reported his unfavourable views on Picton's past actions at length to meetings of the commission. Picton thereupon tendered his resignation on 31 May 1803.<ref name=dnb/>

==Arrest and trials==
Picton joined Hood in military operations in Saint Lucia and [[Tobago]], before returning to [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] to face charges brought by Fullarton. In December 1803 he was arrested by order of the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]] and promptly released on bail set at £40,000.<ref name=dnb/>

The Privy Council dealt with the majority of the charges against Picton. Those charges related principally to accusations of excessive cruelty in the detection and punishment of practitioners of [[Obeah]], severity to slaves, and of execution of suspects out of hand without due process. Only the latter class of charge seems to have seriously worried the Privy Council, and here Picton's argument that either the laws of Trinidad (then still the laws of the former Spanish colonial power: Abercromby had specifically instructed Picton to conduct himself according to those laws)<ref>{{cite news|title=Law Intelligence – Court of King's Bench – The King v Thomas Picton|work=Lancaster Gazette|date=6 December 1806}}</ref> or "the state of the garrison" (martial law) justified the immediate execution in the cases specified eventually carried the day.<ref>This was not a foregone conclusion, nor unimportant to Picton: one of the cases was the execution without trial or court-martial of a British soldier for desertion and rape; in the same period, the former military commander of [[Gorée]] was publicly hanged for having a soldier flogged to death without a court-martial.</ref>

[[File:Luisa calderón.jpg|thumb|[[Luisa Calderón (torture victim)|Luisa Calderón]] being tortured, as illustrated in one of the many prints at the time]] 
Picton was, however, tried in the [[Court of King's Bench (England)|Court of King's Bench]] before [[Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough|Lord Ellenborough]] in 1806 on a single charge: the [[misdemeanour]] of having in 1801 caused torture to be unlawfully inflicted to extract a confession from [[Luisa Calderón (torture victim)|Luisa Calderón]], a 14-year-old free [[mulatto]] girl suspected of assisting one of her lovers to burgle the house of the man with whom she was living,<ref>{{Citation |last=Candlin |first=Kit |title=Calderon, Louisa [Luisa] (1785x8–1825), victim of torture and witness in legal case |date=2021-10-14 |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-90000380692 |access-date=2025-03-14 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380692 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref> making off with about £500. Torture (but not the specific form) had been requested in writing by a local magistrate and approved in writing by Picton. The torture applied ("[[picket (punishment)|picketing]]") was a version of a British military punishment and consisted in principle of compelling the trussed-up suspect to stand on one toe on a flat-headed peg for one hour on many occasions within a span of a few days.<ref>{{cite OED|picket, n.1}}</ref> Calderón was subjected to one session of 55 minutes, and a second of 25 minutes the following day. The young girl was suspended by one arm on a pulley rope set in the ceiling and lowered onto a peg in the floor, bare foot first. This continued until her entire body weight rested on the peg. She did not confess and was imprisoned for a further eight months before being released.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kissoon |first=Freddie |title=The torture of Louisa Calderon |newspaper=Trinidad and Tobago NewsDay |url=http://www.newsday.co.tt/commentary/0,82831.html |date=19 July 2008 |access-date=24 September 2020 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304130735/http://www.newsday.co.tt/commentary/0,82831.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="auto"/>

The period between Picton's return and the trial had seen a pamphlet war between the rival camps, and the widespread sale of engravings showing a curious British public what an attractive 14-year-old mulatto girl being trussed up and tortured in a state of semi-undress might look like. At the trial, Luisa Calderón gave evidence in person ("Her appearance was extremely interesting, and her countenance, which was that of a mulatto, extremely prepossessing and agreeable")<ref name="SMFeb1806">{{cite news|title=Trial of Governor Picton|work=Stamford Mercury|date=28 February 1806}}</ref> of the nature and duration of her picketing. The legal arguments, however, revolved on whether Spanish law permitted torture of suspects. On the evidence presented by the prosecution and with Picton's defence being damaged by the cross-examination of his witnesses ("Mr Bourville was examined relative to the nature of the office of ''[[Alcalde|alkald]]'', or justice at Trinidad. On his cross examination by [[William Garrow]], he said, the first introduction of torture was by General Picton." ... "Mr Gloucester, the Attorney-General at Trinidad, verified several books as books of authority, in which it was expressly laid down, that by the Spanish law torture might be inflicted; these books were, the ''Borvillia'', the ''Curia Phillipion'', and the ''Elesando''. On his cross-examination he admitted that the ''Caedula'' and ''Raecopilazione'' were also books of authority. They contained a code expressly applicable to the [[Spanish West Indies|Spanish West India Islands]], and there was not a word about torture in them");<ref name="SMFeb1806"/> the jury decided that it did not and found Picton guilty.<ref name=dnb/>

Picton promptly sought a retrial, which he got in 1808. At this, Picton's counsel stressed that the use of torture had been requested by the local magistrate, that there were copious authorities showing its legality under Spanish law, and that Calderón had been old enough to be legally tortured. Against the argument that torture was legal under the laws of Spain, but nowhere authorised by those of its colonies, he presented a considerable body of depositions from inhabitants of Trinidad showing that torture had frequently been resorted to by magistrates in the last years of Spanish occupation. The jury found that torture was authorised by the law of the island at the time of the cession, and that the defendant acted without malice, further than making an order which he thought himself bound to comply with.<ref>{{cite news|title=Law Report – Court of King's Bench – Torture in the Island of Trinidad – The King vs Thomas Picton Esq|work=Manchester Mercury|date=21 June 1808}}</ref> They therefore reversed the verdict of the earlier trial but asked for the full court to consider the further argument of the prosecution that torture of a free person was so repugnant to the laws of England that Picton must have known he could not permit it, whatever Spanish law authorised. The court ordered that Picton's obligations to the court be postponed until the court could consider the matter further but no judgment was ever delivered.<ref name=dnb/>

Friends of Picton in the military and among slave owners subscribed towards his legal expenses.<ref name=dnb/> Picton contributed the same sum to a relief fund after a widespread fire in [[Port of Spain]]. He had meanwhile been promoted [[major-general]], and in 1809 he had been governor of [[Flushing, Netherlands|Flushing]] in the Netherlands during the [[Walcheren expedition]].<ref name=dnb/>

==European military service==
[[File:Thomas Picton by Shee.jpg|thumb|upright|Picton painted by [[Martin Archer Shee]]]]
In 1810, at Wellington's request, Picton was appointed to command a division in Spain. Wellington recalled that he had been recommended by [[Francisco de Miranda|General Miranda]], who considered him "extremely clever", but also did not trust him, because "he has so much vanity that if you sent him out to the [[Caracas|Caraccas]] or the West India Islands, he would attempt to become the prince of them". Wellington commented when he met Picton,

{{blockquote|I found him a rough foul-mouthed devil as ever lived, but he always behaved extremely well; no man could do better in different services I assigned to him, and I saw nothing to confirm what Miranda had said of his ambition.<ref>Philip Henry Stanhope, ''Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington, 1831–1851'', Oxford University Press, 1938, p.69</ref>}}

For the remaining years of the Peninsular War, Picton was one of Wellington's principal subordinates. The commander-in-chief never reposed in him the confidence that he gave to [[William Carr Beresford, Viscount Beresford|Beresford]], [[Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill|Hill]] and [[Robert Craufurd]] but in the resolute, thorough and punctual execution of a well-defined task Picton had no superior in the army. His debut, owing partly to his naturally stern and now embittered temper, and partly to the difficult position in which he was placed, was unfortunate. On the [[River Coa]] in July 1810 Craufurd's division became involved in an action, and Picton, his nearest neighbour, refused to support him, as Wellington's direct orders were to avoid an engagement. Shortly after this, however, at [[Battle of Buçaco|Busaco]], Picton succeeded in driving French forces across a ravine in considerable disorder.<ref name=dnb/>

After the winter in the [[lines of Torres Vedras]], he added to his reputation and to that of his division, the "Fighting" 3rd, at the [[Battle of Fuentes de Onoro]]. In September he was given the local rank of lieutenant-general, and in the same month the division won great glory by its rapid and orderly retirement under severe pressure from the French cavalry at the [[battle of El Bodon|engagement at El Bodon]]. In October Picton was appointed to the colonelcy of the [[77th Regiment of Foot]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/077-787.htm |title=77th (the East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot |publisher=regiments.org |access-date=30 July 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061229235241/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/077-787.htm |archive-date=29 December 2006 }}</ref>

[[File:Portrait of Genl. Sir Thomas Picton storming the moorish Castle of Badajos. March 31st 1812 (4671793).jpg|thumb|Picton storming the Castle of Badajoz, 31 March 1812]]
In the first operations of 1812 Picton and Craufurd, side by side, stormed the two breaches of [[Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812)|Ciudad Rodrigo]]. Both Craufurd and Picton's second in command, Major-General [[Henry MacKinnon]], were mortally wounded in the engagement. At [[Siege of Badajoz (1812)|Badajoz]], a month later, the successful storming of the fortress was due to his daring self-reliance and penetration in converting the secondary attack on the castle, delivered by the [[3rd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|3rd Division]], into a real one. He was himself wounded in this terrible engagement, but would not leave the ramparts, and the day after, having recently inherited a fortune, he gave every survivor of his command a [[guinea (coin)|guinea]]. His wound, and an attack of fever, compelled him to return to Britain to recoup his health, but he reappeared at the front in April 1813. While in Britain he was invested with the collar and badge of a [[Knight of the Order of the Bath]] by the Prince Regent [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George]], and in June he was made a [[lieutenant-general]] in the army. At this time, Picton purchased the [[Iscoed]] estate in [[Carmarthenshire]],<ref>{{cite web |author=Good Stuff |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wa-9732-iscoed-st-ishmael#.WISXV5Kml9A |title=Iscoed – St Ishmael – Carmarthenshire |publisher=British Listed Buildings |date=1982-05-03 |access-date=2017-01-22 |archive-date=28 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828135836/http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wa-9732-iscoed-st-ishmael#.WISXV5Kml9A |url-status=live }}</ref> and was returned triumphantly as Member of Parliament for [[Pembroke Boroughs (UK Parliament constituency)|Pembroke Boroughs]] at a by-election on 19 March 1813.<ref name=hop>{{cite web|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/picton-sir-thomas-1758-1815|title=Picton, Sir Thomas (1758–1815), of Iscoed, Carmarthonshire|publisher=History of Parliament|access-date=11 June 2020|archive-date=11 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811005941/http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/picton-sir-thomas-1758-1815|url-status=live}}</ref>

At the [[Battle of Vitoria]], Picton led his division across a key bridge under heavy fire.  According to Picton, the enemy responded by pummeling the 3rd with 40 to 50 [[cannon]] and a counter-attack on their right flank (which was still open because they had captured the bridge so quickly) causing the 3rd to lose 1,800 men (over one third of all Allied losses at the battle) as they held their ground.<ref name=Amotz>[[Richard Cannon]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=DMkJ3xvg34AC&pg=PA65 ''Historical Record of the Seventy-fourth Regiment (Highlanders)''], Published by Parker, Furnivall & Parker, 1847</ref> The conduct of the 3rd division under his leadership at Vittoria and in the engagements in the [[Pyrenees]] raised his reputation as a resolute and skilful fighting general to a still higher point. Early in 1814 he was offered, but after consulting Wellington declined, the command of the British forces operating on the side of [[Catalonia]].<ref name=dnb/>

On the break-up of the division the officers presented Picton with a valuable service of plate, and on 24 June 1814 he received for the seventh time the thanks of the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] for his great services. Somewhat to his disappointment he was not included amongst the generals who were raised to the peerage, but early in 1815 he was appointed [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]] (GCB).<ref name=hop/>

==Death==
[[File:Portrait of Death of Sir Thomas Picton (4671794).jpg|thumb|left|Death of Sir Thomas Picton]]
When [[Napoleon]] returned from [[Elba]], Picton, at Wellington's request, accepted a high command in the Anglo-Dutch army, and was appointed commander of the [[5th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|5th Infantry Division]]. Along with every other senior officer in the army, he was invited to the [[Duchess of Richmond's Ball]] that was held on 15 June.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://royalarmouries.org/dancing-into-battle-the-duchess-of-richmonds-ball/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905094816/https://royalarmouries.org/dancing-into-battle-the-duchess-of-richmonds-ball/|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 September 2018|title=Dancing into battle: The Duchess of Richmond's Ball|publisher=Royal Armouries|access-date=11 June 2020}}</ref>

On 18 June, at [[Battle of Waterloo|Waterloo]], when Napoleon sent in the [[Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon|Comte d'Erlon]]'s Corps to attack the Anglo-allied centre near [[La Haye Sainte]] at 13:30, Picton launched a bayonet charge on the advancing French column. While repulsing the attack with impetuous valour – his last words were "Charge! Charge! Hurrah! Hurrah!"<ref name="Dictionary of National Biography">Dictionary of National Biography</ref> – he was shot through the temple with a musket ball.<ref name=dnb/>

Announcing his death, Wellington wrote to the Minister of War, [[Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst|Lord Bathurst]]:
{{blockquote|Your Lordship will observe, that such a desperate action could not be fought, and such advantages could not be gained, without great loss; and, I am sorry to add, that ours has been immense. In Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton, His Majesty has sustained the loss of an Officer who has frequently distinguished himself in his service; and he fell, gloriously leading his division to a charge with bayonets, by which one of the most serious attacks made by the enemy of our position was defeated.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=17028 |date= 22 June 1815 |pages=1214–1215 }}</ref> }}

[[File:Memorial to general Thomas Picton at St Paul's Cathedral.jpg|thumb|left|170px|[[Sebastian Gahagan]]. Memorial to Thomas Picton at St. Paul's Cathedral (1816)]]
On subsequent examination, Picton's body was found to have suffered a serious musket ball wound to the hip at [[Battle of Quatre Bras|Quatre Bras]] on the 16th. Apart from his servant, he had told no one, nor had he consulted a surgeon, choosing instead to bandage the wound himself.<ref name=Waterloo1815>{{harvnb|A Near Observer|1815}}</ref>

His body arrived in [[Deal, Kent|Deal]] in Kent on 25{{nbsp}}June to a salute from the guns of the ships moored in [[The Downs (ship anchorage)|The Downs]]. It reached [[Canterbury]] the same evening and was deposited in a room at the Fountain Inn where Picton had dined on his way to the Continent. At 6:00 am on 26{{nbsp}}June, to the strains of the "Dead March" in ''[[Saul (Handel)|Saul]]'', the funeral procession accompanied by the [[52nd Regiment of Foot]] with reversed arms moved off towards London where it arrived on 3{{nbsp}}July.{{sfn|A Near Observer|1815|page=271}}

==Burial and monuments==
He was interred in the family vault at [[St George's, Hanover Square]]. A public monument was erected to his memory in [[St Paul's Cathedral]], by order of Parliament,<ref>"Memorials of St Paul's Cathedral" [[William Sinclair (Archdeacon of London)|Sinclair, W.]] pp. 458/9: London; Chapman & Hall, Ltd; 1909</ref> and in 1823 another [[Picton Monument, Carmarthen|Picton Monument]] was erected at [[Carmarthen]] by subscription, the king contributing a hundred guineas.  On 8 June 1859, his body was re-interred in St Paul's Cathedral, lying close to the body of the Duke of Wellington.<ref name="Dictionary of National Biography"/>

He is memorialised in [[St Michael's Church, Rudbaxton]] in Pembrokeshire, the parish in which he grew up.<ref name="NHAW">{{National Historic Assets of Wales|num=12009 |desc=Church of St Michael |grade=I |access-date=16 May 2020 }}</ref> There is also a monument on the battlefield of Waterloo.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/69185/Picton-Monument.htm|title=Picton Monument|publisher=Traces of War|access-date=1 January 2022|archive-date=1 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220101175117/https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/69185/Picton-Monument.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{-}}

==Namings in his honour==
;Places
* The town of [[Picton, Ontario|Picton]] in [[Prince Edward County, Ontario]], Canada 
* The town of [[Picton, New Zealand]]. 
* [[Picton, New South Wales]], a town named by Picton's military colleague, [[Lachlan Macquarie]]
* Picton Junction, [[Western Australia]] was named by Waterloo veterans who settled the southwest of Western Australia
* [[Picton, Lennox and Nueva|Picton Island]], at the east entrance of the [[Beagle Channel]] in [[South America]]; named by [[Robert Fitzroy]] and [[Phillip Parker King]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HKV1WRT8ToEC|title=Historical Dictionary of Chile|first=Salvatore|last=Bizzarro|date=20 April 2005|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810865426}}</ref>

;Roads
* Picton Road, [[Abersychan]], [[Wales]]
* Picton Road, [[Rhoose]], [[Wales]]
* Picton Street, [[Griffithstown]], [[Wales]]
* Picton Street, [[Brighton]], [[England]]
* Picton Terrace, [[Blaenau Ffestiniog]], [[Wales]]
* Picton Terrace, [[Carmarthen]], [[Wales]]
* [[Picton Road]], a highway in Australia
* Picton Street, Howick, Auckland, New Zealand
* Picton Avenue, Riccarton, [[Christchurch]], [[New Zealand]]
* Picton Street, [[Montpelier, Bristol]]. There is also a double-bayed villa in the street named ''Picton Lodge''.
* Picton Street, [[Port of Spain]], Trinidad and Tobago
;Public houses
* The ''General Picton Inn'' in [[Porthcawl]]
* ''The General Picton'' in Picton Place, Nantyffyllon, [[Maesteg]]. The sign bears an image of Sir Thomas. The area also contains a Picton Street named after him; he owned a large amount of land in the area.
* ''The Picton'' is a public house in Commercial Road, [[Newport, Wales|Newport]]. The sign depicts Sir Thomas in military uniform resting the blade of his sword upon his left shoulder.
;Other
* Picton Barracks, [[Bulford Camp]], Wiltshire – the headquarters of the British Army's [[3rd Division (United Kingdom)|3rd Division]] since 1992
* Picton Barracks, Carmarthen, Wales<ref>{{Cite web |title=Picton Barracks, Picton Terrace, Carmarthen SA31 3BS |url=https://apply.army.mod.uk/what-we-offer/army-reserve-centres/wales/carmarthen-picton-terrace |access-date=29 March 2021 |website=Army Careers |archive-date=23 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023154234/https://apply.army.mod.uk/what-we-offer/army-reserve-centres/wales/carmarthen-picton-terrace |url-status=live }}</ref>
* {{HMS|Sir Thomas Picton}}, a Royal Navy monitor launched in 1915
* The Rhymney Brewery in [[Rhymney]], [[South Wales]], produces a [[cask ale]] named General Picton
* The Picton, a boys' boarding house at [[Wellington College, Berkshire]], a [[Private schools in the United Kingdom|private school]]
* Picton House, a house at Haverfordwest Grammar School (closed 1978), Picton's old school in [[Haverfordwest]], [[Pembrokeshire]]
* [[Sir Thomas Picton School]] (''Ysgol Sir Thomas Picton''), a mixed comprehensive school in [[Haverfordwest]], Pembrokeshire, Wales – closed 2018.
* [[Picton Monument, Carmarthen]], Wales
* [[Picton Arcade]], [[Swansea]]. A covered city centre shopping area linking the Kingsway and Oxford Street.
* Picton House, Alameda Estate, [[Gibraltar]].
* Fort Picton (St David's Tower), [[Laventille|Laventille Hills]], [[Port of Spain]], Trinidad. This structure has been described as a [[Martello tower]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnc3.co.tt/laventille-residents-trying-to-restore-fort-picton/|title=Laventille residents trying to restore Fort Picton - CNC3|first=Guardian Media|last=Newsroom|date=27 March 2021}}</ref>

==In fiction==
In the 1970 Soviet-Italian epic film, [[Waterloo (1970 film)|''Waterloo'']], Picton was played by the English actor [[Jack Hawkins]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Waterloo (1970) |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-njm73d/waterloo/ |access-date=2022-08-08 |website=Radio Times |language=en |archive-date=8 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808130921/https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-njm73d/waterloo/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Picton's trial is depicted in episode three of the third series of the 2011 television series ''[[Garrow's Law]]''; Picton is played by [[Patrick Baladi]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC One - Garrow's Law, Series 3, Episode 3 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017znhv |access-date=2022-08-08 |website=BBC |language=en-GB |archive-date=8 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808130921/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017znhv |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Likenesses==

* Oil portrait (c1812) of Sir Thomas Picton by Sir [[Martin Archer Shee]], in the [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp03564/sir-thomas-picton?search=sas&sText=picton|title=Person – National Portrait Gallery|access-date=17 December 2016|archive-date=21 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221002258/http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp03564/sir-thomas-picton?search=sas&sText=picton|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Oil portrait (c1815) by Sir [[William Beechey]], at [[Apsley House]], London.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://images.historicenglandservices.org.uk/beechey-lt-general-sir-thomas-picton-n070463/print/5529827.html|title=Beechey – Lt. General Sir Thomas Picton N070463 – APSLEY HOUSE, London. Lt – Photo Prints – 5529827 -|access-date=17 December 2016|archive-date=21 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421030440/https://images.historicenglandservices.org.uk/beechey-lt-general-sir-thomas-picton-n070463/print/5529827.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Bust (1816) by Sebastian Gahagan, in [[St Paul's Cathedral]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.courtauldprints.com/image/184677/wren-christopher-gahagan-sebastian-st-pauls-cathedral-monument-to-lieutenant-general-sir-thomas-picton|title=St Paul's Cathedral;Monument to Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton, Wren, Christopher|access-date=17 December 2016|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220210826/http://www.courtauldprints.com/image/184677/wren-christopher-gahagan-sebastian-st-pauls-cathedral-monument-to-lieutenant-general-sir-thomas-picton|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Lithograph by an anonymous artist of Sir Thomas Picton on horseback (1815), in the National Portrait Gallery.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw63631/Sir-Thomas-Picton|title=Sir Thomas Picton – National Portrait Gallery|access-date=17 December 2016|archive-date=21 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221003021/http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw63631/Sir-Thomas-Picton|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Serravezza marble statue (1916) of Sir Thomas Picton by [[T. Mewburn Crook|Thomas Mewburn Crook]] in [[City Hall, Cardiff|Cardiff City Hall]], one of a series entitled "Heroes of Wales".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/11271/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924074556/http://www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/11271/|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 September 2015|title=PMSA|date=24 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://tmewburncrook.com/sculpture-gallery/#jp-carousel-115|title=Sculpture Gallery – Thomas Mewburn Crook – Sculptor|access-date=17 December 2016|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220174114/http://tmewburncrook.com/sculpture-gallery/#jp-carousel-115|url-status=live}}</ref>
:In June 2020, in the wake of the [[George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom|George Floyd protests]] and the toppling of the [[statue of Edward Colston]] in [[Bristol]], the [[Lord Mayor of Cardiff]], Dan De'Ath, and the leader of [[Cardiff Council]], [[Huw Thomas (Welsh politician)|Huw Thomas]], supported calls to remove the City Hall statue on account of Picton's links to slavery.<ref name=WalesJun20>{{cite news |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/thomas-picton-statue-cardiff-slaves-18386804|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609171010/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/thomas-picton-statue-cardiff-slaves-18386804|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 June 2020|title=Council leader supports removing statue of slave owner Sir Thomas Picton from Cardiff's City Hall|date=9 June 2020|work=Wales Online|access-date=9 June 2020}}</ref> In July, the Council voted to remove the statue.<ref name="bbc23_7_20">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53512384|title=Statue of slave owner Thomas Picton to be removed from Cardiff City Hall|publisher=BBC|date=23 July 2020|access-date=15 March 2025|archive-date=24 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724234915/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53512384|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Emily |last=Goddard |title=Sir Thomas Picton: statue of 'sadistic slave owner' to be removed in Cardiff |work=[[The Independent]] |date=24 July 2020 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/thomas-picton-statue-cardiff-removed-slave-owner-a9636046.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/thomas-picton-statue-cardiff-removed-slave-owner-a9636046.html |archive-date=7 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=25 July 2020 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>
*In November 2021 [[National Museum Cardiff]] removed from display a portrait of Picton by Shree which had been in its collection since 1907, due to his record in Trinidad.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cardiff museum takes down slave owner Thomas Picton's portrait |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59139743 |website=BBC News |access-date=3 November 2021 |date=3 November 2021 |archive-date=3 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211103074007/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59139743 |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 2022, the portrait, which had previously formed part of the "Faces of Wales" gallery, was put back on display in an exhibition called "Reframing Picton" and was surrounded by descriptions of his brutal treatment of the people of Trinidad.<ref name="guardian22" />

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*{{cite book|author=A Near Observer|title=The Battle of Waterloo, Containing The Series of Accounts Published by Authority, British and Foreign Sources &c.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l2oUAAAAQAAJ|year=1815}}
* {{cite book |last=Barbero |first=Alessandro |title=The Battle: a new history of Waterloo |url=https://archive.org/details/battle00ales |url-access=registration |publisher=Walker & Co. |location=New York |year=2005 |isbn=9780802714534 |page=[https://archive.org/details/battle00ales/page/14 14] }}
* {{cite journal |title=Politics of Colonial Sensation: The Trial of Thomas Picton and the Cause of Louisa Calderon |last=Epstein |first=James |journal=[[American Historical Review]] |department=AHR Forum |issn=1937-5239 |volume=112 |issue=3 |year=2007 |pages=712–741 |doi=10.1086/ahr.112.3.712 |jstor=40006668 |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite book |first=Robert |last=Havard |title=Wellington's Welsh general: a life of Sir Thomas Picton |place=London |publisher=Aurum |year=1996 |isbn=1854104020 }}
* {{ODNB|first=Robert |last=Havard |title=Picton, Sir Thomas (1758–1815) |year=2004 |id=22219 }}
* {{cite book |last=Michelena |first=Carmen L. |title=Luces revolucionarias: De la rebelión de Madrid (1795) a la rebelión de La Guaira (1797) |place=Caracas |publisher=CELARG |year=2010 }}
* {{cite book |first=Frederick |last=Myatt |title=Peninsular General: Sir Thomas Picton, 1758–1815 |publisher=David & Charles |place=Newton Abbott |year=1980 |isbn=0715379232 }}
* {{cite book |last=Naipaul |first=V. S. |author-link=V. S. Naipaul |title=[[The Loss of El Dorado|The Loss of El Dorado: a history]] |place=London |publisher=André Deutsch |year=1969 }}
* {{cite book |first=Heaton Bowstead |last=Robinson |title=Memoirs of Lieutenant-General Sir T. Picton, including his correspondence, etc. |edition=2nd |place=London |year=1836 }}
* {{cite journal |first=B. P. |last=Swann |title=Sir Thomas Picton: some unpublished facts about his career and relations |journal=Dyfed Family History Journal/Cymdeithas Hanes Teuluoedd Dyfed |volume=1 |year=1984 |pages=172–175 }}

==External links==
{{DNB poster|Picton, Thomas}}
{{EB1911 poster|Picton, Sir Thomas}}
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/6467417.stm BBC: Picton past examined]
*[https://archive.org/stream/narrativesofstat01browuof: narrative  – not transcript – of Picton's King's Bench trial]

==Political summary==
{{Commons category}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}}
{{succession box
|title = [[Governor of Trinidad]]
|before = Sir [[Ralph Abercromby]]
|years = 1797–1802
|after =  Commission ([[William Fullarton]], [[Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet|Samuel Hood]], Thomas Picton)
}}
{{succession box
|title = [[List of Governors of Tobago|Governor of Tobago]]
|before = [[Louis Cesar Gabriel Berthier]]
|years = 1803
|after =  [[William Johnstone (colonial governor)|William Johnstone]] |
}}
|-
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Sir Charles Hastings, 1st Baronet|Sir Charles Hastings, Bt.]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=Colonel of the [[77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot]] | years=1811–1815}}
{{s-aft | after=[[George Cooke (British Army officer)|George Cooke]]}}
{{s-par|gb}}
{{s-bef
 | before  = [[Sir John Owen, 1st Baronet|John Owen]]
}}
{{s-title
 | title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Pembroke Boroughs (UK Parliament constituency)|Pembroke Boroughs]]
 | years =  1813–1815  
}}
{{s-aft
 | after  = [[John Jones of Ystrad|John Jones]]
}}

{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Picton, Thomas}}
[[Category:1758 births]]
[[Category:1815 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Haverfordwest]]
[[Category:People of the Battle of Waterloo]]
[[Category:British Army lieutenant generals]]
[[Category:British military personnel killed in action in the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:British Army commanders of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Peninsular War]]
[[Category:British torturers]]
[[Category:Gordon Highlanders officers]]
[[Category:Suffolk Regiment officers]]
[[Category:Royal Leicestershire Regiment officers]]
[[Category:56th Regiment of Foot officers]]
[[Category:Welsh army officers]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Governors of British Trinidad]]
[[Category:Governors of British Tobago]]
[[Category:Welsh military personnel]]
[[Category:Welsh slave owners]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Welsh constituencies]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1812–1818]]