Ethen Province (1755-18 December 1793) was a colonel of the British Army who commanded a regiment of Line Infantry during the French Revolutionary Wars at the Siege of Toulon, where he was killed.
Biography[]
Ethen Province was born in 1755 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Great Britain. He enlisted in a regiment of Line Infantry in 1773 at the age of 18 and was sent as one of 4,000 British troops sent to Boston in 1774. Province was promoted to Captain in 1776 after serving in the first year of the American Revolutionary War, and he proceeded to fight in the northern theater before remaining garrisoned in New York from 1778 until the war's end in 1783.
After the war, Province was made a Colonel. Province took command of a regiment of line infantry during the French Revolutionary Wars of the 1790s. In 1793 his regiment shipped out to Toulon in southern France to occupy the port city, having been invited to do so by the French royalists. He commanded the regiment in occupation until November 1793, when a breakout was made against the French forces. Province's regiment was shattered by grapeshot and Province was killed in the third volley, hit in the chest by several small grapeshot balls. All of the troops in his regiment were killed by the grapeshot while standing still on the edge of a small elevation, and his unit was the last surviving unit of the British Army during the siege of Toulon at the time of their extermination.