Lord Nelson would be the obvious one to start with... he's probably most famous for leading the British at the Battle of Trafalgar. Prior to that he lost the sight of his right eye at the battle of Calvi in Corsica, and also his right arm at Santa Cruz in Tenerife.

http://www.lordnelson-pattaya.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/lord-nelson-pattaya.jpg

In 1801 Nelson was fighting the Danish Navy when he was ordered to break off from the battle and retreat. Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye and said to his Lieutenant "You know Foley I have only one eye. I have a right to be blind sometimes. I really do not see the signal".

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/England-History/Nelson.htm

In the same sort of Military theme... Hannibal ( the Carthaginian military commander, not the leader of the A-Team or the serial killer) lost an eye due to conjunctivitis and still came incredibly close to destroying the roman empire
http://www.militarygenius.com/strategy_tactics_geniuses/pictures_pics/hannibal_barca_carthage_second_punic_war.jpg

http://www.livius.org/ha-hd/hannibal/hannibal.html

Pete Falk, aka Lieutenant Colombo lost his eye at the age of 3 due to cancer... he nearly didn't make it as an actor when he was rejected by Columbia Studios. Harry Cohn the top dog the said "For the same money, I can get an actor with two eyes!"
http://www.allposters.com/IMAGES/MMPH/214071.jpg
http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/bio.htm

Gordon Brown, the Current British Prime Minister lost the sight in his left eye when he was playing rugby at the age of 16. Later he had problems with his right eye and now has only 30% vision in it.
http://www.topnews.in/light/files/Gordon-Brown2.jpg
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6743875.stm

And to round up... Another Samuel... in this case Samuel Johnson, Author of the first famous Dictionary was blind in one eye after contracting Scrofula at an early age
https://libwebspace.library.cmu.edu:4430/posner/sp09/subcontents/images/Samuel_Johnson_by_Joshua_Reynolds.jpg
http://www.samueljohnson.com/briefbio.html

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