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Chevalier de Gaja, as he is called, was one of the bravest officers in the French army. He had an adventurous career, especially during the Napoleonic Wars. He was taken prisoner at Corunna in 1808, but was subsequently exchanged and rejoined Napoleon, taking part in the retreat from Moscow. He was at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813 when Napoleon narrowly escaped capture, attributing his escape to the prowess of de Gaja. Later, de Gaja was a French prisoner of war at Wantage. In 1817, he married Matilda, eldest daughter of Lord Robert Stephen Fitzgerald and grandaughter of the 1st Earl of Leinster. She died at Pau, in the south of France, on 11th March 1850 and the general subsequently resided for many years. His daughter married Rev. Peter Righton Atkinson, Rector of East Hendred in 1868, and it was during his Rectorship that de Gaja went to live with his son-in-law at Hendred, where he died on 31st January 1875, and was buried in Abingdon.