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Brigadier-General Marcus Beresford (1 June 1764 – 6 January 1803) was an Irish soldier and Member of Parliament.
He was a son of the Archbishop of Tuam, William Beresford, by his wife Elizabeth, sister of John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare.[1] He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin.[2]
Beresford began his military career when he was commissioned as an ensign into the 9th Regiment of Foot on 26 October 1786.[3] He was promoted to lieutenant on 30 June 1787[4] and then to captain in the 27th Regiment of Foot, later commanding an Independent Company.[citation needed]
On 31 October 1793, he was promoted to first major in the 102nd Regiment of Foot (Trench's)[5] and on 26 November 1794 to lieutenant-colonel in the 135th Regiment of Foot (Sir Vere Hunt's).[6] He was appointed Lieutenant-General of the Irish Ordnance in 1800[7] and promoted full colonel on 1 January 1801.[8]
He represented St Canice in the Irish House of Commons from 1790[9] to 1794 and Swords from 1798 until the Act of Union 1800.[10] On 22 June 1802, he was breveted to the local rank of brigadier-general in the Windward and Leeward Islands.[11]
The West Indies garrisons were infamous for mortality through tropical diseases, such as malaria and yellow fever. Accordingly, Beresford made out a will on 23 November 1802 in Barbados. This proved to be a wise precaution, as he died there on 6 January.[12][13]
He died unmarried, predeceasing his father, who was created Baron Decies in 1812 and succeeded by Marcus's younger brother John in 1819.[1]
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