Dalling, John
Dalling, John
DALLING, JOHN. (c. 1731–1798). British general and governor of Jamaica. John Dalling was born in Suffolk around 1731 and entered the army in 1747. A major in the Twenty-eighth Foot by 1757, he served under John Campbell Loudoun at Louisburg in 1758 and Quebec in 1759. Taking command of the Forty-third Regiment in 1761, he fought in the West Indies and at the capture of Havana in 1762. He was then posted to Jamaica, where he was made lieutenant governor in about 1768. Upon Sir Basil Keith's death in August 1777, Dalling was promoted major general and confirmed as governor. In 1779 a successful expedition to the Bay of Honduras tempted him to conquer a route to the Pacific via Lake Nicaragua in 1780. Although this expedition was ruined by disease, Dalling persisted in feeding in reinforcements, most of whom died. He was unable to save Mobile in March 1780 and Pensacola in May 1781, partly for lack of transports. Dismissed by the end of the year, he never held another independent command, though he rose to general in 1796. He died at Clifton, near Bristol, on 16 January 1798.
SEE ALSO Honduras; Jamaica (West Indies); Mobile; Pensacola, Florida.
revised by John Oliphant