Sir John Colborne was born at Lyndhurst, Hampshire on 16th February 1778, the only son of Samuel Colborne. He entered the British army as an ensign in the 20th Regiment in 1794; and fought throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. At the battle of Waterloo, where he commanded the 52nd Regiment, he was chiefly responsible for the defeat and rout of Napoleon's Old Guard. In 1821 he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey, and in 1829 Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. In 1839 he was appointed Governor-in-Chief of British North America. At the end of the year, however, he gave place to Poulett Thomson, and was raised to the peerage as Baron Seaton of Seaton. From 1843 to 1849 he was Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian islands; and from 1855 to 1860 he was Commander-in-Chief of the forces in Ireland, with the rank of general. In 1860, on his retirement, he was promoted to be a Field-Marshal. In 1813 he married Elizabeth, daughter of the Reverend J. Yonge, rector of Newton Ferrers, Devonshire; and by her he had several children, including two sons, both of whom attended Elizabeth College and who rose to the rank of general. In 1814 he was created a KCB, in 1838 a GCB, and in 1843 a GCMG. He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son, James Colborne. He died at Torquay on 17th April 1863.