Field Marshal George Wade (1673 – 14 March 1748) was a British army officer and politician who served in the Nine Years' War, War of the Spanish Succession, Jacobite rising of 1715 and War of the Quadruple Alliance. He went on to be a military commander during the War of the Austrian Succession and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces during the Jacobite rising of 1745. While commanding the British Crown forces in Scotland, Wade was responsible for constructing hundreds of miles of military roads, many of which remain in use.
Early career
Born the son of Jerome Wade in Killavally, County Westmeath, Ireland, he spent his early years in English Tangier, where his father was a member of the Tangier Garrison. Wade was commissioned into the Earl of Bath's Regiment on 26 December 1690 and served in Flanders in 1692, fighting at the Battle of Steenkerque in August 1692 during the Nine Years' War and earning a promotion to lieutenant on 10 February 1693. and was promoted to captain on 13 June 1695. and became commander of the British forces in Ireland in November 1714. On 19 March 1717, he became colonel of the Earl of Plymouth's Regiment of Horse. The same year he was one of the original backers of the Royal Academy of Music, establishing a London opera company that commissioned numerous works from Handel and others.
He became MP for Bath in 1722, retaining the seat for 25 years.
Scotland
thumb|upright=1.3|[[Ruthven Barracks, Kingussie]]
The government of George I sent Wade to inspect Scotland in 1724. Over the next twelve years Wade directed the construction of some of roads and 30 bridges (including the Wade's Bridge at Aberfeldy).
thumb|upright=1.2|Section of Wade's military road between Inverness and Kingussie, built in the wake of the 1715 Jacobite rebellion
A reference in verse is said to be inscribed on a stone at the start of one of his military roads in Scotland: