General William Dyott DL JP (17 April 1761 – 7 May 1847) was a British Army officer and courtier who served in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Dyott undertook a series of staff appointments in England and Ireland until after the start of the French Revolutionary Wars when, promoted to lieutenant colonel, he took the 25th Regiment of Foot to the West Indies.

In 1796 Dyott fought against Fédon's rebellion on Grenada, returning at the end of the year having lost the majority of his regiment to yellow fever.

In the first years of the ensuing Napoleonic Wars Dyott worked as a staff officer in Ireland, and also served George III as an aide de camp.

Promoted to major-general in 1809 Dyott was ordered to take command of a brigade in the Peninsular War, but his appointment was cancelled when the army was evacuated after the Battle of Corunna.

Around this time the British Army began to expand in preparation for the French Revolutionary Wars, and Dyott was employed with a recruiting party for the 4th at Lichfield.

[1][4] In June Dyott was appointed brigade major to Major-General George Hotham, who commanded the Plymouth Military District.

[9][8] 100 men of the 25th, including Dyott, then joined the expeditionary force leaving St. George's to dislodge rebels from several strategic points that the British had recently abandoned.

Dyott, who commanded the 25th and 200 men of the 9th Regiment of Foot, supported the attack of the Loyal Black Rangers that captured the position with minimal casualties.

[14] Dyott's position turned out to be very unhealthy for his troops, and in the following couple of months upwards of 300 men were lost while the force waited for reinforcements.

The journey took them twenty-one hours, during which they skirmished with rebels in a route that, according to Dyott, "was literally up and down precipices, half-way up the leg in clay, and through a wood where I believe no human foot had ever before stepped".

Dyott was then given command of an ad-hoc brigade, containing the 25th, 9th, and 8th Regiment of Foot, that was to form part of a flanking manoeuvre around Fédon's position.

[18][19] One day's food and drink was subsequently supplied, and Dyott remonstrated with his commander Brigadier-General Alistair Campbell that they had to move quickly before the force was further diminished by sickness.

Upon realising their predicament at dawn Fédon and his men escaped by throwing themselves down the steep mountainsides, allowing the British to occupy Quaqua without a shot being fired; around 100 rebels were killed.

Dyott himself underwent an attack of yellow fever as the ships reached Tortola, and after arriving at Plymouth on 20 September he was allowed to go ashore immediately.

[25] In June the following year Dyott was put on notice to travel to Ireland with the Lancashire Militia to help fight the Irish Rebellion, but this was crushed before he could leave England.

[29][28] On 9 August Dyott's regiment was placed in Major-General George Ludlow's 1st Brigade as part of the reorganisation of the army in preparation for the Siege of Alexandria.

The initial French defenders abandoned their positions and the British advanced quickly to within 1,400 yards (1.3 km) of the first major fortification, Fort des Bains, but were unable to do more because they lacked heavy artillery.

[1][35] With the defences facing Coote much weaker than those on the east side, it was decided that the final attack would be made on the west and artillery was brought around to support it.

[39][40] Dyott returned to England on 26 July and in September was summoned by George III to belatedly take up his role as aide de camp.

[41] He was appointed a brigadier-general on 4 June and ordered to go out with his regiment, that had since returned from Gibraltar, to command a brigade in the new West Indies campaign of the Napoleonic Wars.

[28][42] He spent this time in Weymouth, and also Windsor, escorting members of the Royal Family to the theatre and playing cards with Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and her daughters.

[28] In March Dyott was translated to command the infantry in Dublin and the Eastern District, by September being located at the Curragh Camp.

It was part of Lieutenant-General George Gordon, Marquess of Huntly's division which was to capture the island of Cadzand while other units attacked Walcheren.

[51] Huntly's division stayed in occupation on Zuid-Beveland, although Dyott was present in the aftermath of the taking of Flushing to describe the "utterly impossible" destruction.

Without transport for these men they had to be left out on the Nieuw- en Sint Joosland beach in the heat; Dyott thought it the most distressing scene he had seen as a soldier.

In December he declined an invitation from Lieutenant-General Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington, to join the Peninsular Army as a brigade commander.

After the Peterloo Massacre in 1819 Dyott joined with other landowners in calling for an increase in yeomanry and the creation of town armed associations to assist in putting down popular unrest.

[46] Reputed to be an excellent staff officer, Dyott kept a series of diaries between 1781 and 1845, eventually reaching sixteen volumes.

[73] He argues that Dyott was the substance behind the semi-fictitious idea of the "fine old English gentleman", comparing him to the character of Sir Roger de Coverley.