Charles William Doyle

Sir Charles William Doyle CB GCH
Painting of Sir Charles by Margaret Sarah Carpenter, 1824
Born	1770
Died	25 October 1842 Paris, France
Buried	Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Awards	Companion of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order (1821) Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order (1839)

Lieutenant-General Sir Charles William Doyle, CB, GCH (1770 – 25 October 1842) was a British Army officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars.

Doyle was born in 1770, the eldest son of William Doyle of Bramblestown, County Kilkenny, KC and master in chancery in Ireland. William Doyle was the eldest son of Charles Doyle of Bramblestown, and therefore elder brother of General Sir John Doyle, 1st Baronet. and General Welbore Ellis Doyle.

Doyle entered the army as an ensign in the 14th Foot, which was commanded by his uncle, Welbore, on 28 April 1783, and was promoted lieutenant on 12 February 1793, in which year he accompanied his regiment to the Netherlands. The 14th Foot was one of the 'ragged' regiments which Harry Calvert compares in his ‘Letters’ to Falstaff's soldiers, but Major-General Ralph Abercromby soon got them into better condition, in which task he was helped by Doyle, whom he appointed his brigade-major. Abercromby's brigade was conspicuous for its efficiency throughout the ensuing campaigns. With the regiment, Doyle was present at the Battle of Famars, where his uncle, Welbore, led the attack at the head of the 14th Foot to the tune of "Ça ira", an incident described in his cousins Sir F. H. Doyle's spirited poem, reprinted in his Reminiscences. Doyle was publicly thanked by Abercromby for carrying a redoubt in the heights above Valenciennes, and then acted as orderly officer to the Austrian generals during the siege of that town, when he was wounded in the head.