Loftus William Otway

General Sir Loftus William Otway, CB was an experienced and professional cavalry commander of British forces during the Peninsula War who saw extensive service under Sir John Moore in the Corunna Campaign and Wellington in the remainder of the campaign. He also worked training Portuguese troops and spent time serving in Ireland during the 1798 rebellion and Canada. Otway retired after the Peninsula War and was honoured several times for his war service by both the British and Spanish royal families.

Otway was born the fourth of five sons to Cooke and Elizabeth Otway of Castle Otway, Tipperary. The family had a strong military tradition, Cooke Otway was an officer in the local militia and Loftuss elder brother Robert Waller Otway later became an admiral and baronet. Otway joined the army agedin 1796 during the French Revolutionary Wars, taking a post in the 5th Dragoon Guards as a cornet. Within months he had purchased advancement to lieutenant and was with the regiment when they were posted to Ireland in October 1796, prior to the outbreak of the 1798 Rebellion. Otways service in quelling the uprising is not clear, but he was certainly present at the Battle of Vinegar Hill onJune 1798, when his unit was employed in riding down the panicking rebels at the collapse of the rebellion.

Source: Wikipedia