COMMANDER // 1767–1816
George Prevost
Lifespan
1767 – 1816
Profile
Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, 1st Baronet was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who is most well known as the "Defender of Canada" during the War of 1812. Born in New Jersey, son of Genevan Augustine Prevost, he joined the British Army as a youth and became a captain in 1784. Prevost served in the West Indies during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, and was commander of St. Vincent from 1794 to 1796. He became Lieutenant-Governor of Saint Lucia from 1798 to 1802 and Governor of Dominica from 1802 to 1805. He is best known to history for serving as both the civilian Governor General and the military Commander in Chief in British North America during the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States.