Samuel Hulse

Field Marshal Sir Samuel Hulse, GCH (1747/8 – 1 January 1831) was a British Army officer and courtier.

Hulse was the second son of Sir Edward Hulse, 2nd Baronet (died 1800) and his wife, Hannah, and the grandson of the royal physician, Sir Edward Hulse, 1st Baronet. Hulse entered the army in the 1st Foot Guards as an ensign on 17 December 1761. As captain and lieutenant-colonel, he was present with his battalion during the Gordon Riots in 1780. In 1793, as brevet colonel and regimental first major, he commanded the 1st battalion of his regiment with the Duke of York at the Siege of Valenciennes, in the brilliant affair under Major-General Gerard Lake at Lincelles, and during the operations before Dunkirk, until October, when he returned home on promotion. After returning to Flanders as major-general in May 1794, he commanded a brigade in some minor affairs near Tournai and in the retreat to Bremen. Early in 1795 he was appointed to the home staff, and commanded at Brighton for three years.

In 1798, Hulse became lieutenant-general and was dispatched to Ireland with reinforcements, including a brigade of guards. He returned to his command at Brighton in November of that year, served under the Duke of York in the expedition to Den Helder in 1799, and afterwards succeeded Lord Grey in command of the south-eastern district. He became a full general in 1803, and was appointed lieutenant-governor of Chelsea Hospital in 1806 and governor in 1820. One of the first to be appointed by George III to the suite of the young Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV), he was for many years the Prince's treasurer and Receiver General. At the Prince's coronation as George IV, Hulse, one of the two eldest generals, was created Field Marshal. He became Master of the Household in 1812, and thereafter was Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from 1827 until the king's death three years later. Hulse was appointed GCH in 1821 and was a Privy Counsellor and colonel successively of the 56th, 19th, and 62nd foot. He died at his residence in Chelsea Hospital on 1 January 1837, aged eighty-nine, and was buried in the family vault at Erith, Kent. He was survived by his widow, Charlotte, who died on 5 February 1842.

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