John Ligonier, 1st Earl Ligonier
| The Earl Ligonier | |
|---|---|
 John Ligonier |
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| Born | 7 November 1680 Castres, France |
| Died | 28 April 1770 (aged 89) Cobham, Surrey, Kingdom of Great Britain |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Great Britain |
| Service/branch | British Army |
| Years of service | 1702 - 1770 |
| Rank | Field Marshal |
| Battles/wars | War of Spanish Succession War of the Austrian Succession Forty-Five |
| Awards | KB |
Field Marshal John (Jean Louis) Ligonier, 1st Earl Ligonier, KB, PC (7 November 1680 – 28 April 1770) was a French-born British soldier.
He was born to a Huguenot family of Castres in the south of France, and who emigrated to England at the close of the 17th century. He enjoyed a distinguished career as an active officer, and later became a leading official of the Pitt-Newcastle Ministry that led Britain during the Seven Years' War practicing extensive control over Britain's army - which was expanded to unprecedented size during the conflict.
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[edit] Military career
Educated in France and Switzerland, Ligonier joined a Regiment in Flanders commanded by Lord Cutts.[1]
From 1702 to 1710 he was engaged, with distinction, in nearly every important battle and siege of the War of the Spanish Succession. He was one of the first to mount the breach at the siege of Liège,[1] commanded a company at the battles of Schellenberg[1] and Blenheim,[1] and was present at Menin[1] (where he led the storming of the covered way), Ramillies,[1] Oudenarde[1] and Malplaquet[1] (where he received twenty three bullets through his clothing yet remained unhurt[2]). In 1712, he became governor of Fort St. Philip, Minorca.[1] During the War of the Quadruple Alliance in 1719 he was adjutant-general of the troops employed in the Vigo expedition,[1] where he led the stormers of Fort Mann.
Two years later he became colonel of the Black Horse (now 7th Dragoon Guards),[1] a command which he retained for 29 years. His regiment soon attained an extraordinary degree of efficiency. He was made a brigadier general in 1736,[1] major general in 1739,[1] and accompanied Lord Stair in the Rhine Campaign of 1742 to 1743. George II made him a Knight of the Bath on the field of Dettingen. At Fontenoy, Ligonier commanded the British foot regiments,[1] and acted throughout the battle as adviser to the Duke of Cumberland.
During the Forty-Five he was called home to command the British army in the Midlands, but in January 1746 was placed at the head of the British and British-paid contingents of the Allied army in the Low Countries. He was present at Roucoux[1] (11 October 1746), and, as general of horse, at Val (1 July 1747), where he led the last charge of the British cavalry. In this encounter his horse was killed. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Lauffeld by Louis XV, but was exchanged within a few days.[1] With the close of this campaign Ligonier's active career ended, but (with a brief interval in 1756-1757) he occupied various high civil and military posts to the close of his life.
[edit] Seven Years War
In 1757 he was made Commander-in-Chief, following the disgrace of the previous holder Prince William, Duke of Cumberland following the Invasion of Hanover.[1] He was also made a field marshal,[3] Colonel of the 1st Foot Guards (now Grenadier Guards),[1] and a peer of Ireland in 1757 under the title of Viscount Ligonier of Enniskillen,[1] and again in 1762 as Viscount Ligonier of Clonmell. He was notionally given command of British forces in the event of a planned French invasion in 1759 though it never ultimately occurred.
From 1759 to 1763 he was Master-General of the Ordnance,[1] and in 1763 he became Baron, and in 1766 Earl, in the British peerage.[1] His younger brother, Francis, was also a distinguished soldier,[1] and his son succeeded to his peerage. His private secretary and friend, Richard Cox, later became military agent for most of the armed forces and established Cox & Kings.
[edit] Retirement
He spent his later years at Cobham Park in Cobham, Surrey, where the unmarried Earl boasted a harem of young girls.[4]
Ligonier died aged 89, is buried in Cobham Church and has a memorial in Westminster Abbey.
[edit] Bibliography
- Combes, J. L. Ligonier, une étude (Castres, 1866).
- Mayo, Lawrence Shaw. Jeffrey Amherst: A Biography. (London, 1916).
- Histories of the 7th Dragoon Guards and Grenadier Guards.
- Camille Rabaud "Jean-Louis de Ligonier, généralisme des armées anglaises" (Dole, 1893)
- Rex Whitworth, Field Marshal Lord Ligonier: A Story of the British Army, 1702-1770 (Oxford, 1958).
- Alan J. Guy, Oeconomy and discipline: officership and administration in the British army, 1714-1763 (Manchester, 1985).
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Huguenots
- 1680 births
- 1770 deaths
- People from Cobham, Surrey
- English people of French descent
- British Field Marshals
- British military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession
- British Army personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession
- British MPs 1747–1754
- British MPs 1754–1761
- British MPs 1761–1768
- Earls in the Peerage of Great Britain
- Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
- Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain
- Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath
- People from Tarn (department)
- 7th Dragoon Guards officers
- Grenadier Guards officers
- Fellows of the Royal Society
