Sir Henry Thomas Godwin KCB (1784–1853) was a British officer. He fought in the British Army in the Peninsular War and in the First Anglo-Burmese War before joining the Bengal Army, in which he served as commander in chief of British and Indian forces in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852 and 1853. Military career Godwin was commissioned as an Ensign into the 9th Foot on 30 October 1799. He served with the regiment at Ferrol in 1800 and was promoted Lieutenant on 9 August 1803. In an expedition to Hanover in 1805 he served as adjutant of his battalion. In 1808, at the outset of the Peninsular War, Godwin was in Portugal and was promoted Captain on 28 March 1808. The next year he took part in operations on the Douro and in the advance to Porto, then marched with his battalion to Gibraltar and later to Tarifa. He volunteered to follow Blayney in an attack on Fuengirola and later commanded two companies at the Siege of Cadiz. He fought at the defence of Tarifa in 1811, was severely wounded at the Battle of Barrosa on 5 March 1811, and ended the war as a brevet Major and a Companion of the Order of the Bath. In 1814 Godwin received a Major's commission in the 5th West India Regiment. On 26 July 1821 he took up an appointment as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 41st Foot. In 1822 he led the regiment to India and in 1824 took it into Burma. In the second half of 1824 he was part of an expeditionary force which conquered Martaban, and following that Godwin saw active service in all battles of the First Anglo-Burmese War up to the Treaty of Yandaboo of 1826. In 1827 he was transferred to half pay. In 1837 was promoted Colonel and on 9 November 1846 Major General. Godwin joined the General Staff of the Bombay Army in 1850, and with effect from November 1851 he took command of the army's Sirhind Division. In 1852, during the Second Anglo-Burmese War, Godwin was commander in chief of the British expeditionary force into Burma, known as the "Army of Ava", as well as commanding the force's Bengal Division. Godwin, with his expeditionary force, set sail from Bombay on 28 March 1852, aiming for the mouth of the Irrawaddy River, where he was to be joined by forces sent from Madras. There,