Sir John Braithwaite, 1st Baronet
Major-General Sir John Braithwaite, 1st Baronet (3 February 1739 – 16 August 1803) was a British Army officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army.
He was born in South Carolina, the only son of Colonel John Braithwaite and Silvia Cole. His father died when John was just a baby after the ship he was on was attacked by a Spanish privateer off the Scilly Isles. His mother later remarried Reverend Thomas Winstanley. John was educated at Westminster School and joined the army as an ensign in the 53rd Regiment of Foot on 6 November 1765. He rose to lieutenant-colonel in 1772. In 1777 he seized the Maharaja of Vizianagram’s fort, and he then commanded a brigade that included European and Carnatic battalions, defeating a French force at Mahé in 1779.
During the Second Anglo-Mysore War, Hyder Ali invaded the Carnatic with a large army in 1780. Braithwaite was captured at Seringapatam in February 1782 and held prisoner for two years. He later became acting Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army in August 1792 and led the successful Siege of Pondicherry in 1793, remaining in that role until 1796. He was adjutant-general of the force that defeated Tipu Sultan at the Siege of Seringapatam in April 1799, ending the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. In January 1800 he became Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army, retiring in 1801.
Braithwaite was created a Baronet on 18 December 1802 and died at his home in London on 16 August 1803, aged 64. He married Elizabeth Brown, and they had one surviving son, George-Charles Braithwaite, who became the second and last Baronet, and a daughter, Sylvia, who married Charles Parkhurst.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:16 (CET).