General Sir William Houston, 1st Baronet, (10 August 1766 – 8 April 1842) was a British Army officer and Governor of Gibraltar. Houston joined the army in 1781, and by the start of the French Revolutionary War was a captain. He fought in the Flanders campaign before being promoted to major in 1794. As a lieutenant-colonel he fought at the Capture of Minorca and at the sieges of Alexandria and Cairo. Promoted to colonel in 1802, Houston fought in the Walcheren Expedition of 1809 before being promoted to major-general.
Houston initially commanded a brigade in the Peninsular War before becoming the first commander of 7th Division in 1811. He left his command later in the year because of illness, having commanded it at the battles of Sabugal and Fuentes de Oñoro and the siege of Badajoz. Houston saw no more active service in the Napoleonic Wars, with a series of staff positions culminating in him serving as acting Governor of Gibraltar in 1832. He died in 1842.
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Military career
Early service
William Houston was born on 10 August 1766, the only child of Andrew Houston of Calderhaugh (Calderhall, or Calder Hall), Kirknewton, West Lothian, Scotland. Houston was commissioned into the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot as an ensign on 18 July 1781. He was promoted to lieutenant on 2 April 1782, and joined an unnumbered regiment raised as a temporary unit; he was promoted to captain within this unit on 13 March 1783. Upon the end of the American Revolutionary War, it was disbanded.