Sir Henry Belasyse (1648 – 14 December 1717), also spelt Bellasis, was an English military officer from County Durham, who also sat as MP for a number of constituencies between 1695 and 1715.

[3] Belasyse graduated from Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1667, before a period spent at legal school in the Middle Temple, then considered part of a gentleman's education.

[3] He accompanied the Brigade when William of Orange sent it to England in 1685 to help James II suppress the Monmouth Rebellion, although it returned in August without seeing action.

[5] He returned to Yorkshire, where he became a close associate of Lord Danby, a moderate Tory and one of the signatories of the 1688 Invitation to William, asking him to assume the English throne.

[7] After William landed at Torbay on 5 November 1688, Belasyse was part of a force under Danby that secured first York, the most important city in Northern England, then Hull, its largest port.

[9] After Galway surrendered on 26 July, Belasyse was appointed governor and awarded estates in County Kerry confiscated from their previous Jacobite owners.

'[3] Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, who also served in Ireland, described him as 'mediocre and avaricious'; on the other hand, Sir Henry was consistently promoted by William, who was generally reluctant to have English officers in senior commands, regarding them as less trustworthy or competent than the Dutch or Germans.

The French commander Villeroy achieved local superiority over Vaudémont but their attack on 14 July failed to break his line; this allowed the Allies to conduct an orderly withdrawal, Belasyse helping cover the retreat.

[15] Just before the War of the Spanish Succession began in July 1701, Belasyse exchanged regiments with William Selwyn after his unit was assigned to Jamaica, a notoriously unhealthy posting and became Colonel of the 2nd Foot.

[16] Selwyn died of disease in April 1702, while Belasyse was appointed second-in-command to the Duke of Ormonde, commander of the Anglo-Dutch force sent to Spain in 1702 to support the Habsburg candidate, Archduke Charles.

[17] Aware of the damage done to his cause, Archduke Charles demanded the commanders be punished, and in December, Queen Anne issued an order requiring the return of any plunder taken from Fort St Mary.