Background
Rufane Donkin came of a military family and was the eldest child. His father, Robert Donkin, who reached the rank of a full general, served with many famous British commanders including Wolfe and Gage.
Rufane Donkin came of a military family and was the eldest child. His father, Robert Donkin, who reached the rank of a full general, served with many famous British commanders including Wolfe and Gage.
Rufane was baptised at Street David"s Exeter on the 9th October 1772 with the name Rusaw Shaw Donkin. Becoming a captain in 1793, Donkin saw active service in the West Indies in the next year, gaining promotion to major in 1796. At the age of twenty-five he became a lieutenant-colonel and in 1798 led a light battalion with distinction in Popham"s expedition to Ostend.
On the day prior of the Battle of Talavera (July 1809), an advance French force surprised Donkin"s brigade (positioned ahead of the main British army) before they could post pickets: the British lost over 400 casualties.
Donkin fell back, rallied the men at the main line and led the brigade throughout the battle. The Army then transferred Donkin, in the role of quartermaster-general, to the Mediterranean command.
He served there from 1810 to 1813, taking part in the Catalonian expeditions under Lieutenant-General Frederick Maitland (1812) and Lord William Bentinck (1813). In July 1815, the now Major-General Donkin received a posting to India, distinguishing himself as a divisional commander in Hastings"s operations against the Mahrattas (1817–1818) and receiving the Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath as his reward.
From 1820 to 1821 he administered the Cape Colony with success as acting Governor.
The rest of Donkin"s life passed in literary and political work. His theories as to the course of the River Niger, published under the title Dissertation on the Course and Probable Termination of the Niger (London, 1829), involved him in a good deal of controversy. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Sandwich in 1839, and held that seat until he committed suicide at Southampton on 1 May 1841.
He was then a general, and colonel of the 11th Regiment of Foot.
He is listed as one of the important graves lost on Baroness Burdett Coutts Memorial in Old Saint Pancras Churchyard in London.
Royal Society; 11th United Kingdom Parliament. 12th United Kingdom Parliament. 13th United Kingdom Parliament]
He was one of the original fellows of the Royal Geographical Society, and was a member of the Royal Society and of many other learned bodies.
From 1832 to 1837 he sat in the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in 1835 became Surveyor-General of the Ordnance.