Sir Henry Oakes
Sir Henry Oakes, 2nd baronet was a lieutenant-general in the East India Company's service.
Early life
Henry Oakes was born on 11 July 1756 and was the younger brother of Hildebrand Oakes, the 1st Baronet.Career
On 8 February 1775, Oakes received an Indian cadetship, and was appointed a second lieutenant in the Bombay Army on 18 May 1775. He served two campaigns in Guzerat in 1775–6, in the expedition to Poonah in 1778, and at the sieges of Tellicherry, Onore, Bangalore, and Bednore in 1780–1.Oakes was adjutant-general of the force, under General Mathews, that surrendered at the Siege of Bednore on 28 April 1783, and was carried off prisoner by Tippoo Sultaun. When Tippoo released the prisoners in 1784, Oakes was appointed by the Madras government captain-commandant of a battalion of sepoys, and, when the battalion was disbanded, returned to Bombay to command the grenadiers of the [106th Regiment of Foot (Bombay Light Infantry)|2nd Mumbai|Bombay Europeans], whence he was transferred to the 12th Bombay Native Infantry in September 1788, and took the field with that corps in 1790, serving first as quarter-master-general, and afterwards as commissary of supplies. He was with his battalion at the sieges of Cananore and Seringapatam in 1790, was detached with a separate force to Kolapore in Malabar, and was afterwards with the troops under Major Cappage in October 1791.
In 1792, Oakes was appointed deputy adjutant-general of the Bombay army, received the style of adjutant-general in 1796, and returned home on sick furlough in 1788, having attained the rank of major on 6 May 1795, and lieutenant-colonel on 8 January 1796. He went out again in 1802, and was appointed colonel of the 7th Bombay Native Infantry, but was compelled to return home through ill-health. He went to India once more in 1807 as military auditor-general at Bombay, but was again obliged to return home. He became a major-general on 25 July 1810, a lieutenant-general on 4 June 1814, and succeeded his brother as second baronet in 1822.
Family
Henry Oakes married, on 9 December 1792, Dorothea, daughter of General George Bowles of Mount Prospect, co. Cork, by whom he had four sons and three daughters. His sons were:- Sir Henry Thomas Oakes, 3rd Baronet
- Hildebrand Gordon Oakes, East India Civil Service
- George William Oakes, captain; East India Civil Service
- Charles Henry Oakes was born on 25 November 1810, matriculated at Merton College, Oxford on 29 November 1828, graduated BA on 13 June 1832 and MA on 10 June 1835, was called to the bar by the society of the Middle Temple on 5 May 1837, edited Who's Who from 1851 to 1864, and died on 16 May 1864.