Career
David was a Colonel of Infantry who saw action at the siege Belleisle in 1761 before he was forced to retire from the service due to health problems. Francis" elder brother James became a civil servant with the East India Company. Hepburn joined the 3rd Foot Guards of the British Army as an ensign on 17 December 1794 and was promoted to lieutenant and captain on 28 May 1798.
He saw service in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the following year accompanied the expedition to the Helder in Holland.
Promoted to captain and lieutenant-colonel on 23 July 1807, at the 1811 Battle of Barrosa he was seriously wounded in the leg by a musket ball but refused amputation knowing that it would cut short his military career. Nevertheless, he was forced to return home owing to the injury and did not arrive back in the Iberian Peninsular until the autumn of 1812 when he took charge of a small corps of sharpshooters.
In 1814 he was ordered home to take command of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Foot Guards in preparation for the forthcoming expedition to the Netherlands, but due to adverse winds he arrived too late. He remained in England until June 1815 before joining Wellington in Brussels.
He saw action at Quatre Bras on the 16 June and on the 17th then on the 18th commanded the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Guards at the Battle of Waterloo.
A mistake in subsequent despatches omitted Hepburn"s name from the official account of the action. Nevertheless, he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (Central Bank) and received both the Order of Wilhelm from the King of the Netherlands and the 4th class of the Order of Street Vladimir from the Russians. After the cessation of hostilities, Hepburn remained in France as part of the Army of Occupation commanding 2nd Battalion, 3rd Foot Guards as part of the 2nd British Brigade, 1st British Division.
He died on 7 June 1835 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.