Lieutenant General William Guard was born in Exeter in 1773. He joined the 45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot, as an Ensign by purchase, on the 13th of June 1789. He was aged sixteen years. 

William became a Lieutenant by purchase in 1790. He is first recorded in the regimental histories as a Lieutenant, being wounded whilst in the West Indies, during the capture of the island of Grenada.  

He would then rise through the ranks. William became a Captain, by purchase, on the 4th of September 1795, followed by a Major, on the 15th of November 1797 (also by purchase). He would finally become Lieutenant Colonel (by purchase) on the 3rd of October 1799. 

In 1800, the 45th were still serving in the West Indies and were struggling with sickness. It was recommended that they were to be relieved the following year. The regiment saw service in Dominica, The Saints, and finally St Kitts where in May 1801, they embarked for home. William was commanding the regiment at this time, as Lieutenant Colonel.  

William’s next service abroad, appears to have been the attack on Buenos Ayres. This battle was in the context of the Napoleonic wars; the British were attempting to seize the Spanish colony, as Spain were an ally of Napoleonic France. The attack on Buenos Ayres was the second battle in the city, as part of the invasion known as the ‘invasion of the River Plate 1806-1807’ (in modern day Argentina and Uruguay).  The 45th operated under two distinct columns under Lieutenant Colonel Guard and Major Nicholls. In Guard’s report of the battle, he writes of the difficulty to reach the centre of the city: ‘As I advanced, however, towards the centre of the town, I found the tops of the houses crowded with the enemy, and they opened a smart fire of musketry on us as we passed. When I had got about half a mile, finding the men considerably out of breath, and that great difficulty occurred in our moving forward from the increased fire, I drew off my men into a street on my right…’(Colonel H. C. Wylly, History of the 1st and 2nd Battalions The Sherwood Foresters: The Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment, vol.1 (1929), p. 122). The Invasion would end in two major defeats for the British and General Whitelocke, who led the forces, would be court-martialled.  

William and the 45th would then serve during the Peninsular Wars. The Peninsular War (1808-14) was fought on the Iberian Peninsular by Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom against the forces of Napoleonic France. In January 1809, William and the 45th found themselves at Torre de Mincorvo, and were requesting supplies from the hospital stores in Almeida to Lamego. Unfortunately, the 45th would suffer further casualties, and at Talavera, had to leave behind 1,500 of the more serious cases. This included William, who became a prisoner of war, and was not released until the end of the conflict in 1814! 

It should be noted that William again rose in rank, throughout the Peninsular War. He became Brevet Colonel on the 25th of October 1809, and Major General on the 1st of January 1812. In later life, he became Lieutenant General in 1825 and was the Governor of Kinsale and Charles Fort. He died at Southerney, near Exeter, on the 13th of July 1830, aged 57. He has a monument in Exeter Cathedral.