Lord Seaton, who is better known to Canadians by his commoner's title of Sir John Colborne, was a son of Samuel Colborne, an English gentleman resident at Lyndhurst, in the county of Hants. He was born sometime in the year 1777, and after passing from the hands of a private tutor to Winchester College--where he remained several years--he embraced a military life, in 1794, by entering the army in the capacity of an ensign. The closing years of the last century were propitious for a young British soldier fired by an ambition to distinguish himself, and young Colborne had embraced precisely the career for which he was best fitted. He was a born soldier, and throughout his military life furnished an apt illustration of the round peg in the round hole. Napier, the historian of the Peninsular War, speaks of him as having developed "an extraordinary genius for war," and another historian refers to him as one of the bravest and most efficient officers produced by those stirring times. For the readers of these pages the chief interest in his career begins with his arrival in Canada in 1828. His services previous to that date may be summarized in a few sentences. In 1799 he was sent over by way of Holland to Egypt under Sir Ralph Abercromby, and remained there until the realm of the Pharaohs was cleared of the French and restored to the Sultan's dominion. He was with the British and Russian troops employed on the Neapolitan frontier in 1805; also in Sicily and Calabria, in the campaign of 1806. Having obtained promotion for his gallant services, he became Military Secretary to General Fox, Commander of the Forces in Sicily and the Mediterranean, and afterwards acted in the same capacity to Sir John Moore. He was present at the battle of Corunna, where his brave Chief met a glorious death. Immediately afterwards he joined the army of Lord Wellington, and in 1809 he was sent to La Mancha to report on the operations of the Spanish armies. Having received the command of a regiment, and having been appointed to a lieutenant-colonelcy, he commanded a brigade in Sir Rowland Hill's division in the campaigns of 1810-11, and was detached in command of the brigade to Castel Branco, to observe the movements of General Reynier's _corps d'armée_ on the frontier of Portugal. At the battle of Busaco he commanded a brigade and also on the retreat to the Lines of Torres Vedras. On the 21st of June, 1814, he married Miss Elizabeth Yonge, daughter of the Rev. J. Yonge, of Puslinch, Devonshire, and Rector of Newton-Ferrers. He was actively employed all through the War in the Peninsula, and received his due proportion of wounds and glory. In 1815 he was present at the memorable battle of Waterloo, in command of his old regiment, the 52nd. He likewise commanded a brigade on the celebrated march to Paris. The battle of Waterloo was the last European conflict in which he took part. He subsequently became Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands.