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Lieutenant
Colonel Peter Latouche Chambers CB - 'The Otter'
Remember Them - February/March 2002
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Colonel Peter Latouche Chambers was one of the truly outstanding
Commanding Officers of the 41st Foot. Sadly he died at the comparatively
young age of 41. As a Major he served throughout the Burmese War
of 1824-1826, being present in seven engagements, six of which he
commanded the 41st, and was severely wounded in one of them.
The Naval and Military Magazine at the time said of Colonel Chambers:
'In North America in the war of 1812, he was sometimes commanding
a part of the 41st; at other occasions in command of a brigade of
militia (which he had been specially selected to form and organise)
and he also took charge of a division in the Quartermaster General's
department'. He was engaged in several important actions, including
those at Detroit and Queenston against the Americans. On several
occasions he received the personal thanks of the commander of the
forces for his zeal, activity, and intrepid gallantry. During his
service in North America he lost an eye.
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For his conduct at Detroit, where he commanded a brigade, he received
a Field Officer's Gold Medal. Twelve years later, during the war in Ava
(Burma), he continued to serve against all medical advice and, despite
ill health and debility, he again gained the highest commendations from
his senior officers, and showed the same zeal, unbroken, and elastic spirit,
bearing him above all bodily ills, under hardships and difficulties of
no common nature, which lead him foremost to the ranks of honour. For
his service in Burma (where he was also wounded whilst gallantly leading
his men into a stockade), he was specifically selected by the Commander-in-Chief
in India for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel (initially in the 87th Foot
which he exchanged a year later for command of his old Regiment - the
41st)' and was also made a Companion of the Order of Bath.
| Peter Latouche Chambers was born on 29 December
1786 and was commissioned into the 41st Foot at age 16. Nine years
later he was commanding the 2nd Brigade at Detroit. He was appointed
Commanding Officer of the 41st Foot in April 1827. He died of cholera
on 29 August 1827 at Baughapilly, which is 70 miles from Bangalore,
India. His grand daughter reported that during his service in Canada
he became an adopted son of the Delaware nation with the name of
'The Otter', 'Nikik Kance' in Indian. Colonel Chambers' son Francis,
who was born at Niagara in July 1812, enlisted in the 41st at the
age of 11 and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1831, but only
served for a further 3 years with his father's old regiment.
To the right are examples of a 41st Regiment Officer from 1813
and 1826 respectively.
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