return home on sick leave soon after, he was recommended to the king by Prince Ferdinand for some special mark of royal favour, which he never received. In 1762 he embarked with his company for service in the Portuguese Campaign under the Count of Lippe, of which he left a manuscript account placed in the Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich. Macbean was one of the British officers allowed to return to Portugal, on the prospect of a renewed conflict with Spain the year after. He was appointed a colonel of the Portuguese Army's artillery, and in 1765 Inspector-General of Portuguese artillery, a post he held for four years, receiving a very handsome testimonial from Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Conde d'Oeiras, the Portuguese secretary of state, on his departure. Macbean commanded a company of artillery in Canada in 1769–73, and at home in 1773–77. In March 1778, he was appointed to command the Royal Artillery in Canada, in succession to Major-General Thomas Phillips, and in 1780, on the prospect of an American invasion, was appointed to the left brigade, consisting of the 31st, 44th, and 84th regiments, covering Sorel, on which, as on various other occasions, his services received the approbation of General Frederick Haldimand. Macbean was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1786, being the second artillery officer to receive that distinction (the first was Thomas Desaguliers). The artillery service was greatly indebted to him for his private notes and memoranda, without which much valuable information relating to the earlier history of the corps would have been lost. Macbean, a lieutenant-general and colonel-commandant, Royal Invalid Artillery, died at his residence by Woolwich Common on 11 November 1800. His widow died at Greenwich in 1818, aged 88. A street in central Woolwich is named after him. Notes References 1725 births 1800 deaths Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich People from Woolwich Fellows of the Royal Society British Army generals Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of the Seven Years' War British Army personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession British Army personnel of the Jacobite rising of 1745 Portuguese army personnel