Hendrik George de Perponcher Sedlnitsky

Hendrik George de Perponcher Sedlnitsky
Hendrik George de Perponcher Sedlnitsky
Born	May 19, 1771 The Hague
Died	November 29, 1856 Dresden
Allegiance	United Kingdom of the Netherlands
Service/branch	Infantry
Years of service	1788-1842
Rank	general
Unit	2nd Netherlands Division
Battles/wars	French Invasion of Egypt (1798) Walcheren Campaign Battle of Quatre Bras Battle of Waterloo
Awards	Knight Commander Military William Order

Hendrik George, Count de Perponcher Sedlnitsky (also Sedlnitzky; 19 May 1771 – 29 November 1856) was a Dutch general and diplomat. He commanded the 2nd Netherlands Division at the Battle of Quatre Bras and the Battle of Waterloo.

Perponcher was the son of Cornelis, baron de Perponcher Sedlnitsky, (scion of an old Huguenot Dutch family and of old Czech noble family that had fled Bohemia after the 1621 Battle of White Mountain), a justice in the Hof van Holland (the high court of the province of Holland), and Jonkvrouwe Johanna Maria van Tuyll van Serooskerke. Though the family was not part of the Dutch nobility under the Dutch Republic it had acquired a number of Heerlijkheden, like many Regents, which gave it a de facto aristocratic status. When King William I of the Netherlands reorganized, and greatly extended, the Dutch nobility in 1815, the family De Perponcher Sedlnitsky was inducted into the Dutch nobility with the title of baron. Perponcher was himself elevated to the rank of hereditary count by the King in 1825.

Perponcher married Adelaide, countess Van Reede on October 2, 1816. They had three sons and a daughter. The three sons all went into Prussian government service and achieved high rank.

Perponcher entered the service of the Dutch Republic as a cadet in a regiment of dragoons in 1788. He was promoted to captain in 1792, and appointed aide-de-camp to Prince Willem George Frederik of Orange-Nassau, a younger son of stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange. With him he took part in the campaigns of the War of the First Coalition (he saved the Prince's life at the battle of Werwick of September 13, 1793) until the Republic was overrun by the revolutionary French armies and the Batavian Republic was proclaimed in 1795. Perponcher then followed his master into Austrian service, where Prince Frederik became a general. He was wounded at the siege of Kehl.