Captain William Sotheron, 62nd Regiment of Foot, ca.1782
attributed to John Hoppner (1758-1810)
photo courtesy of Peter Schweller Fine Art
W Sotheron Capt, his signature from a regimental paylist dated Pointe-Lévy, Québec, 28 January 1777
Nationality: English
Born: Darrington, Yorkshire, England, 1755
Regimental commission dates:
Captain, 29 February 1776
Major, 31 October 1789
Captured: Saratoga, New York, 17 October 1777 (Convention Army)
Retired: 10 August 1790
Died: 7 February 1806
The eldest son of William Sotheron, originally of Pontefract (1727-1789), and Sarah (née Savile) of Darrington, who were married on 13 February 1751, this young pedigreed officer began his military career at the age of 15 as a cornet in the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (the Blues), one of the premier regiments in the entire British Army, with a commission dated 6 June 1770. Undeterred by the unusually high cost of commissions in this regiment, Sotheron soon after purchased a lieutenancy in the Blues on 3 November 1773. What convinced Sotheron to leave his elite, but comparatively sedate, horse regiment for service in one of the most junior infantry regiments of the British army bound for overseas service is unknown. Nevertheless, he became a captain in the 62nd Regiment only a month before the regiment was ordered to Canada in the spring of 1776.
Captain William Sotheron commanded his battalion company during the entirety of the Northern Campaign of 1777, including fighting in the Battle of Freeman's Farm (19 September), in which battle he survived unscathed. He surrendered with the rest of Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne's army at Saratoga on 17 October 1777 and remained in captivity with the regiment during the next few years. Apparently, his petition for exchange eventually came through; a letter from Lord George Germain to Sir Henry Clinton, dated Whitehall, 6 December 1780, expressed to the commander-in-chief that Sotheron should be exchanged as soon as it was possible (Clements Library):
Sir John Eden Member for the County of Durham has applied to me in behalf of Captain Sotherson of the 62nd Regiment who was taken Prisoner at Saratoga and is now with the Convention Troops. He is the eldest son of a Gentleman of Fortune and Character and an intimate Friend of Sir John Eden's: and as the Father is in a very precarious state of Health, he is very desirous that his son may be exchanged, in order that he may return home.
By July 1781, Sotheron was home again, recruiting men in England for the repatriated regiment. Upon the retirement of Captain John Shrimpton in September 1782, Sotheron received command of the regiment's grenadier company.
Despite Sotheron's early meteoric rise in rank, he remained a captain in the regiment for a long time. This may have had something to do with divided interests: he became Member of Parliament for the Borough of Pontefract, near his hometown of Darrington, Yorkshire, and served as such from 1784-1796. He eventually purchased the major's rank in 1787, but not long after sold that commission and went on half pay as a captain in the late 95th Regiment.
William Sotheron married Sarah Shepley Barker (1771-1842) on 23 December 1793, a woman 16 years his junior who ended up outliving him by almost 40 years. Soon after William's death, Sarah commissioned a memorial in his honor at Darrington Church, Yorkshire, the text of which reads as follows:
An Affectionate Widow
Erects this Monument,
As a Testimony of her unceasing Regard,
To the Memory
Of a very kind Husband
WILLIAM SOTHERON Esquire,
Who was one of the Representatives
For the Borough of Pontefract,
In two successive Parliaments,
But spent the greatest Part of his Life
In Military Service
Encountering Difficulties Dangers and Disasters
With General BURGOYNE in America;
And afterwards voluntarily stepped forward
To vindicate the Honour,
And protect the Existence
Of his Country in two French Wars,
As Lieut Coll of an extraordinary Augmentation
Of Militia in the West-Riding of this County,
And as Lieut Coll of the Pontefract Volunteers
He died on the 7th Day of February 1806
In the 51st Year of his Age
Respected and regretted by all Ranks and Orders
in Society.