Lieutenant-Colonel William Hewett (2 July 1795 – 26 October 1891) was a British Army officer. The son of General Sir George Hewett, he served in five regiments during the wars of the fifth and sixth coalition. During the Hundred Days he rejoined his original regiment, the 14th Regiment of Foot, as a captain and saw action at the Battle of Waterloo. After the war he served with another former regiment, the 33rd (or First Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment, before joining the Rifle Brigade. Hewett ended his career as a lieutenant-colonel with the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot. In later life he lived in Southampton and became the last surviving British officer to have served at Waterloo.
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Early life and career
Hewett was born at Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight in England on 2 July 1795. Hewett was the third son of British Army general and baronet Sir George Hewett.
Hewett was commissioned into the 14th (Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot as an ensign on 14 December 1809. Around this time he served in the Napoleonic Wars, in the ill-fated Walcheren Campaign and under Admiral James Saumarez in the Baltic Sea.
By 21 July 1812 he was with the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment of Foot when he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, without purchase, in the colonial Bourbon Regiment. Seven days later Hewett was transferred to the 33rd (or First Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment, taking the place of a deceased officer. He purchased the rank of captain in the 92nd Regiment of Foot on 3 December 1814 and went onto half-pay.