SHANK, David, British soldier, born in Virginia; died in Glasgow, Scotland, 16 October, 1831. He was appointed a lieutenant under Lord Dunmore in Virginia in 1775, participated in the defence of Gwynn's island and other skirmishes, and served as a volunteer in the battle of Long Island, 27 August, 1776. In March, 1777, he became a lieutenant in the Queen's rangers, and accompanied General Howe's army into New Jersey. He was engaged in the battle of the Brandywine, 11 September, 1777, commanded the picket at Germantown on 4 October, and checked the American column that attacked the right of the British army. He was also present at Monmouth, and succeeded to the command of a company in October, 1778. In August, 1779, he led a troop of dragoons, and afterward the cavalry of the Queen's rangers in Virginia, with which he sustained a severe action at Spencer's Ordinary. In October, 1783, he returned to England, and in 1792 assisted in raising, under the patronage of the Marquis of Buckingham, a light-infantry corps of 400 men called the Queen's rangers for Canada, in which company he was commissioned senior officer, and he commanded the troops in Upper Canada in 1796 after receiving the brevet of major on 1 March, 1794. He was made lieutenant-colonel in January, 1798, and in 1799 returned to England. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the Canadian fencibles on 3 September, 1803, was promoted to colonel in 1808, and was commissioned major-general in 1811 and lieutenant-general in 1821.