Interesting Monuments
1943 Survey: E.1.1 Otto William Offeney D: 12.08.1812 Bur: Unrecorded
Inscription:
( Side 01 )
UNDERNEATH LIE THE REMAINS
OF
LIEUT COLONEL WILLIAM OFFENEY
OF THE
KINGS GERMAN LEGION.
ASSISTANT QUARTER MASTER GENERAL
OF THE CORPS OF THE BRITISH ARMY
UNDER
Lt GENERAL SIR R. HILL K.B.
WHO DIED AT BELEM
12TH OF AUGUST 1812.
AT THE AGE OF 45.
( Side 02 )
THIRTY THREE YEARS OF HIS SHORT LIFE
WERE DEVOTED TO HIS PROFESSION, AND
ALMOST ENTIRELY SPENT ON ACTIVE SERVICE
IN THE EAST INDIES. HOLLAND, FLANDERS
HANOVER. DENMARK. WALCHEREN
AND THE PENINSULAR.
( Side 03 )
HIS DISTINGUISHED CHARACTER AS AN OFFICER
STANDS ESTABLISHED IN THE DESPATCHES OF
THE DIFFERENT GENERALS UNDER WHOM HE
SERVED AND IN PRIVATE SOCIETY HIS AMIABLE
QUALITIES WERE NO LESS CONSPICUOUS.
( Side 04 )
THIS TOMB IS ERECTED TO HIS MEMORY
BY ONE WHO HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE
TO SERVE EARLY UNDER HIS AUSPICES,
AND TO WHOM HE WAS NEARLY RELATED
AND PARTICULARLY DEAR.
Biography
1767 apppr. Born
12.08.1812 Died at Belem.
Will 1807 Precis
I Otto William Offeney Lieutt Colonel of the second Light Battalion of the Kings German Legion being of sound and disposing mind and memory do this thirteenth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seven make and ordain this my last will and testament in manner following....
...Whereas by virtue of a certain Indenture of Settlement bearing date on or about the twenty second day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and five made previous to and in contemplation of my marriage with my late wife Elizabeth Offeney deceased and made between Otto William Offeney of the first part the said Elizabeth Offeney by her then name and description of Elizabeth Murray of Bexhill in the County of Sussex of the second part and Baron Charles Alten of Wilkenburgh in the Electorate of Hanover Colonel Commandant of the first light Battalion of the Kings German Legion in the british Service George Don a Lieut General of his Majestys forces and Ann Murray of Bexhill in the County of Sussex Spinster of the third part ........
my said sister Amelia Lutterman......
my sister Charlotte Offeney....
my mother Catherine Offeney....my sister Helen Heinsins...
1813 Gentleman's Magazine February - page 182
At Belem, near Lisbon, Lieut-colonel Otto William Offeney, assistant quarter master general to the British army in the Peninsular. The life of this officer was a series of almost uninterrupted exertions in his profession. In 1781 he commenced his military career in India; on his return he was, during the whole of the French revolutionary war, actively employed in the British and Hanoverian service; in 1805 in the British service in the North of Germany; in 1807 at Copenhagen; in 1808 in Swedeb and Portugal; in 1809 at Walcheren; and lastly in Portugal and Spain. In the ardour of his zeal for the success of the contest in which Great Britain was engaged, he nobly disregarded the deranged state of his health; and the fatigues which he underwent in the campaign of the division of the army under Lieut.-gen. Sir Rowland Hill, brought on an illness which terminated his existence.