Fearless Ulster-Scot soldier Robert Rollo Gillespie was ‘bravest man ever to wear a red coat’

Educated in England, it was intended that he would enter Cambridge with a view to following a career in the law, but he opted for a military career instead, and in April 1783 was commissioned as a cornet in the 3rd Irish Horse.

His early career did not hold out much by way of promise. In November 1786 he secretly married Annabell, daughter of Thomas Taylor of Taylor's Grange, Co Dublin, having met her only a few weeks previously at the deanery in Clogher. (Impetuousness was a recurring feature of his life.)

In December of the following year he acted as second to a fellow officer in a duel with William Barrington (brother of Sir Jonah Barrington who, among other things, was a notorious duellist).

When both principals had discharged their pistols without effect, an unnecessary quarrel developed between Gillespie and Barrington. Shots were duly exchanged and Barrington was killed. Gillespie initially fled to Scotland but later returned and surrendered himself for trial. Despite the recommendations of the judge, the jury returned a verdict of justifiable homicide.

Gillespie’s career was redeemed by a series of military successes and a reputation for fearlessness. So much so, Gillespie achieved iconic status and for most of the 19 th century he was held up as an example to young officers serving in India.

In the mid-1790s he was present at the battle of Tiburón on the west coast of Colombia, and later took part in the captures of Fort Bizotten and Port-au-Prince, being wounded several times during this campaign.

During the blockade of Port-au-Prince, Gillespie and a brother officer swam ashore with their swords in their mouths under heavy musketry fire. Unwounded, they landed, were taken prisoner and brought before the governor. Only recognition as a Freemason saved him from being hanged as a spy.

In 1796 in San Domingo he was the target of an assassination attempt, in which he fought off his eight would-be assassins, killing six of them before being shot and wounded himself. Small in stature, George III when he encountered Gillespie at a levee, asked, ‘Is this the little man that killed the brigands?’

In 1806, he had no sooner arrived in India than he was confronted by a mutiny among Indian troops at Vellore. He set out immediately for Vellore with a troop of dragoons and arrived on the scene just as the European troops stationed there were running out of ammunition. He rallied the defence and held out till the arrival of reinforcements and artillery.

During the Java War of 1811–12, he commanded the invasion force that landed at Chillingcherry and captured the city of Batavia. At the siege of Cornelis, Gillespie survived a second assassination attempt when he and his staff were served poisoned coffee. On August 26 1811 he led the final assault on the Dutch defences at Cornelis, capturing the town. In the aftermath of the war he was appointed military governor of Java, cooperating with the civil governor, the celebrated Stamford Raffles who founded Singapore in 1819.

At the outbreak of the Nepal war in 1814 he was appointed to command the Meerut division of the Bengal army. In October 1814 he began to prepare for an assault on the Gurkha fort at Kalunga near Dehra Dun. A well-fortified strongpoint in the foothills of the Himalayas, Gillespie personally led the main assault on the fort and tried to rally his troops when the attack stalled after a Gurkha sortie.

Turning to Charles Pratt Kennedy, a young lieutenant from Cultra, he allegedly called out: ‘Now Kennedy, for the honour of County Down’, but was shot through the heart as the attack resumed. Gillespie’s last words are usually recast as ‘One shot more for the honour of Down.’

The date of Gillespie’s death usually appears as October 31 1814 but he may have died a week earlier on October 24.

His remains were returned to Meerut for burial. As news of his death did not reach England for several months, he was included in the new year's honours list in 1815, being created a KCB. (Knighthoods are not normally awarded posthumously.)

Gillespie may have been initiated as a Freemason around the time he joined the army. Although the detail of Gillespie’s Masonic career remain elusive, he was a member of the Moira Lodge, Freedom and Fidelity, which was constituted in Calcutta on November 8 1813.

The catalyst for the erection of the memorial in Comber was probably a brief biography written by Thomas Percy Boyd, a barrister whose grandfather was a cousin of the major general.

In late 1843 or early 1844 a fund-raising committee was established. John Andrews and the Rev Robert Jex-Blake, the rector of Comber, were joint-treasurers. Thomas Percy Boyd and Colonel John Elliott Cairnes, who had served with Gillespie, were appointed joint-secretaries.

The local gentry, Freemasons and old soldiers who served with Gillespie were the main source of subscriptions.

The memorial column in Comber, the base of which is decorated with Masonic symbols, was unveiled on June 24 1845 (St John's Day – a red letter day in the Masonic calendar) in the presence of 50 Masonic lodges and between 25,000 and 30,000 people. The event is widely believed to have been the largest gathering of Masons in Irish history.

There is also a memorial statue of Gillespie in St Paul’s Cathedral in London.