Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet

Sir Charles Asgill, Bt
Born	(1762-04-06)6 April 1762 London, England
Died	23 July 1823(1823-07-23) (aged 61) London, England
Occupation	General
Title	Baronet
Political party	Whig
Spouse	Jemima Sophia Ogle
Relatives	Sir Charles Asgill, 1st Baronet and Sarah Theresa Pratviel. John Asgill, 1659–1738, (known as "Translated" Asgill) was a relative, both being descendants of Joshua Asgyll MA, DD
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Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet GCH (6 April 1762 – 23 July 1823) was a career soldier in the British Army. Asgill enjoyed a long military career, eventually rising to the rank of general. He is best remembered as the principal of the so-called "Asgill Affair" of 1782, in which his retaliatory execution while a prisoner of war was commuted by the American forces which held him due to the direct intervention of the government of France.

Biography

Early life and education

Charles Asgill was born in London on 6 April 1762, the only son of one-time Lord Mayor of London Sir Charles Asgill and Sarah Theresa Pratviel, whose home was Richmond Place, now known as Asgill House in Surrey. Father and son were both educated at Westminster School, London. The younger Asgill went on to study at Göttingen University, Germany.

He entered the army on 27 February 1778, just prior to his 16th birthday, as an ensign in the 1st Foot Guards, a regiment today known as the Grenadier Guards. Asgill was promoted to the rank of captain while just 18 years old, receiving his commission on 3 February 1781. Shortly after, Asgill was ordered to North America to fight in the American Revolutionary War.

Captain Asgill fought under General Charles Cornwallis, but became an American prisoner of war following the capitulation of Lord Cornwallis following the siege of Yorktown, Virginia, in October 1781.

"The Asgill Affair"

In April 1782, a captain of the Monmouth Militia and privateer named Joshua Huddy was overwhelmed and captured by Loyalist forces at the blockhouse (small fort) he commanded at the village of Toms River, New Jersey. Huddy was accused of complicity in the death of a Loyalist farmer named Philip White who had died in Patriot custody. Huddy was conveyed to New York City, then under British control, where he was summarily sentenced to be executed by William Franklin, the Loyalist son of Benjamin Franklin.

Huddy was held in leg irons aboard a prison ship until 12 April 1782, when he was taken ashore and hanged, after first being allowed to dictate his last will. Loyalists pinned a note to his chest reading "Up Goes Huddy for Philip White" and his body was left hanging overnight. Following his burial by Patriotic supporters, a petition was collected demanding retribution for Huddy's death and presented to American commander General George Washington.

Washington responded to this pressure by declaring that a British captain would be executed in retaliation for the killing of Huddy. On 26 May 1782, lots were drawn, with Asgill drawing the paper which read 'Unfortunate'.

His mother, the doughty Sarah Asgill (of French Huguenot origin), wrote to the French court, pleading for her son's life to be spared. King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette ordered the Comte de Vergennes, the Foreign Minister, to convey to General Washington their desire that a young life be spared.

Since Asgill was protected by the 14th Article of Capitulation in the document of Cornwallis' surrender, safeguarding prisoners of war, such an unjustified execution would have reflected badly on the newly emerging independent nation of America. Congress agreed and young Asgill was released on parole to return to England in December 1782. A year later, together with his mother (who had been too ill to travel sooner) and sisters, he went to France to thank the King and Queen for saving his life. The visit commenced on 3 November 1783. Asgill writes about this experience in his Service Records, wherein he states, "The unfortunate Lot fell on me and I was in consequence conveyed to the Jerseys where I remained in Prison enduring peculiar Hardships for Six Months until released by an Act of Congress at the intercession of the Court of France."

Following Asgill's return to England, lurid accounts of his experiences whilst a prisoner began to emerge in the coffee houses and press. French plays were also written, trivialising his plight to the point of reducing it to a soap opera. Washington became increasingly angry that the young man did not deny these rumours, and nor did he write to thank Washington for his release on parole. Speculation mounted as to his reasons and eventually Washington could take no more of it and ordered that his correspondence on the Asgill Affair be made public. His letters on the matter were printed in the New-Haven Gazette, and the Connecticut Magazine (Vol. I.) Thursday, 16 November, M.DCC.LXXXVI (No. 40.) NON SIBI SED TOTO GENITOS SE CREDERE MUNDO. NEW-HAVEN: Printed and Published by MEIGS & DANA in Chapel-Street. Price Nine Shillings per Annum. The Conduct of GENERAL WASHINGTON, respecting the Confinement of Capt. Asgill, placed in its true Point of Light.

It was five weeks before Charles Asgill was able to obtain a copy and sit down to read the account of his experiences, as recorded by George Washington. His anger at what he read and the accusations hurled his way regarding his lack of manners in failing to write a letter of thanks for his release meant that Asgill dropped everything and wrote an impassioned response by return of post. His letter was sent to the editor of the New-Haven Gazette and the Connecticut Magazine, dated 20 December 1786, but his haste was such that he erroneously referred to the Washington correspondence as having appeared in the August edition when, in fact, it appeared in the 16 November edition.

Asgill's 18-page letter of 20 December 1786, including claims that he was treated like a circus animal, with drunken revellers paying good money to enter his cell and taunt or beat him, was never published. Left for dead after one particular attack, he was subsequently permitted to keep a Newfoundland dog to protect himself.

I leave for the public to decide how far the treatment I have related deserved acknowledgements – the motives of my silence were shortly these. The state of my mind at the time of my release was such that my judgement told me I could not with sincerity return thanks [and] my feelings would not allow me to give vent to reproaches.

These claims were recorded in The Reading Mercury (a British local newspaper) on 30 December 1782, pointing out that Asgill (newly returned home following imprisonment in America) was at the levee for the first time since his arrival in town. The report stated that his legs were still swollen from the chains which had ensured he did not escape his captors and that he had been savagely beaten by his gaoler when complaining that his servant had been badly treated.

Asgill also claimed to have been denied letters from his family.

Subsequent career

Cornwallis's surrender in October 1781 following the siege of Yorktown, after which Asgill became an American prisoner of war.

Asgill was appointed Equerry to Frederick, Duke of York in 1788. In that same year, he inherited the Asgill Baronetcy upon the death of his father. In August 1790, he married Jemima Sophia Ogle (whose image can be seen holding the Duchess of York's train in her wedding portrait - Sophia was the Lady of the Bedchamber to the Duchess of York), daughter of Admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle, at Martyr Worthy, Hampshire.

Asgill went to the Continent and joined the Army under the command of The Duke of York in 1794–1795, served in the Flanders Campaign against revolutionary France and was present at the whole of the British retreat through Holland.

In June 1797, he was promoted brigadier general in the 1st Foot Guards and was appointed to the Staff of Ireland. In his Service Records, he states he "was very actively employed against the Rebels during the Rebellion in 1798 and received the repeated thanks of the Commander of the Forces and the Government for my Conduct and Service." General Sir Charles Asgill marched from Kilkenny and attacked and dispersed the rebels. The Irish song "Sliabh na mban" remembers this. He remained on the Irish Staff until February 1802 when in consequence of the peace, he was removed and returned to England.

Asgill was presented with a silver hot water urn by the people of Clonmel in appreciation of his part in the uprising. The inscription on the urn reads: "PRESENTED by the Inhabitants of the Town and Neighbourhood of CLONMEL to MAJr. GENl. SIR CHAs ASGILL BARt. in token of their great regard for His unremitting exertions as General Commanding in the district in defeating the Schemes of the Seditious and Protecting the loyal Inhabitants. CLONMEL MDCCCI".

On 18 March 1803, and by now a major general, Asgill wrote:

I was reappointed to the Staff of Ireland, and placed in the Command of the Eastern District, in which the Garrison of Dublin is included; I was in Command during the Rebellion which broke out in the City in July 1803. In August 1805 I had the command of a very large Camp which was formed at the Curragh of Kildare; and since that period have continued in the same Command in the Eastern District:- Whenever any Armament or Expedition was preparing I always offered my Services to the Commander in Chief and should have been highly gratified had they been accepted. From the nature of my Command in Dublin (where there is always a considerable Garrison) I have been much in the Habit of strict Exercise of Weapons, and in respect to my competency it is for the General Officers to decide, under whose command I have had the honor of Serving.

Asgill was appointed Colonel of the 2nd Battalion 46th Regiment of Foot (South Devonshire Regiment) on 9 May 1800. In 1802, the 2nd Battalion 46th Regiment of Foot was disbanded and Sir Charles went onto half-pay as the colonel of a disbanded battalion. Promoted to lieutenant general in January 1805, he was appointed Colonel of the 5th West India Regiment on 10 February 1806; Colonel of the 85th Regiment of Foot on 30 October 1806 and Colonel of the 11th Regiment of Foot on 25 February 1807. He was promoted to full general on 4 June 1814.

Charles Asgill died in London, where he had lived at 7 York Street (which became 6 York Street circa 1820). He was buried in the vault at St James's Church, Piccadilly on 1 August 1823. His wife, Sophia Asgill, predeceased him in 1819 and she too was buried in the vault at St. James's. Upon his death, the Asgill Baronetcy became extinct. Most biographies claim he died without issue (excepting A New Biographical Dictionary of 3000 Cotemporary (sic) Public Characters, Second Edition, Vol I, Part I, printed for Geo. B. Whittacker, Ave-Maria Lane, 1825, which states Sophia bore him children). This book of 1825 would probably have been collated and prepared for printing during Asgill's lifetime as his entry is written in the present tense.

St. James's Church Piccadilly was damaged in the Blitz of London on 14 October 1940. After the Second World War ended, specialist contractors, Rattee and Kett, of Cambridge, under the supervision of Messrs. W. F. Heslop and F. Brigmore, undertook restoration work which was completed in 1954. Two former employees, who were involved with the restoration work, remembered temporarily removing coffins from the vault prior to repairing the church's damaged floor and installing under-floor-heating. They stated, in 2003, that the Church has a vault, and that coffins were returned there after the restoration.

Curiously, when monumental inscriptions were drawn up in the mid-19th century, and again in the early 20th century (prior to the bomb damage to the church) no monumental inscriptions have been recorded for either Charles or Sophia Asgill. It would seem, therefore, that the General did not place a memorial to his wife, and nor did the Asgill family place one for him after his death. This is strange since Charles Asgill was one of the notable men of his age. He loved his wife, referring to her as "my beloved wife" in his will, in spite of the fact that history has recorded her as a woman of great beauty, a flirt, and enjoying the company of other men, notably Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch with whom she shared a lifetime of secret correspondence.

The character "Lady Olivia" in the 1806 novel Leonora by Maria Edgeworth was rumoured to have been based on Lady Asgill, thereby portraying her as a "coquette". Rumours circulated thus: "Lady Olivia in ' Leonora ' is now supposed by all Dublin to be a portrait of Lady Asgill". The following letter sheds light on Sophia:

Maria Edgeworth's letter to her aunt Mrs. C. Sneyd at Byrkley Lodge, Lichfield, dated 3 December 1809. To my dear Aunt Charlotte, ...She [Miss Whyte] told us a great many good anecdotes of Lady Asgill - of whom she has seen a great deal, and it was for some time difficult for us to determine whether she was her friend or her enemy but at last this point was determined by her account of a battle royal between these two belles at Miss Whyte's own table lately in Dublin. Lady Asgill began the attack thus " Miss Whyte do you know the good people of Dublin are beginning to abuse you quite as much as they abuse me". "Oh no, I hope not quite so bad as that" – quoth Miss W. "Why though they abuse me, I'm certainly very popular" reasoned Lady A – "for if I invite 60 people to my dinners or my concerts not one of the 60 send an excuse. They all come to my parties". "Oh that is no proof of popularity" replied Miss W "for your ladyship knows that if one came down from the gibbet and gave good dinners and good music they might be sure of having everybody at their parties." The conversation went on from popularity to notoriety - then the word famous was brought in by some of the company and a Mrs Parkhurst (the English lady who brought in the message about comedy from Sheridan) brought in the word infamous. I don't exactly know how but Lady Asgill, who has, it is said, infinite command of temper, coolly in her high keyed voice "Does Mrs Parkhurst mean to say that Miss Whyte and I are infamous?."

In his book, "Voice of rebellion : Carlow 1798 : the autobiography of William Farrell", the author gives a detailed account of how it came to pass that Lady Asgill was instrumental in saving his life. She had persuaded her husband, General Sir Charles Asgill, in Command of the Dublin Garrison at the time, that since a Lady (Queen Marie Antoinette of France) had saved his life, that he must, therefore, save the life of William Farrell who faced the gallows on account of his part in the Irish Uprising of 1798. Lady Asgill, speaking to her husband, said:

Ah, General Asgill, you must not be too inexorable, particularly in the case of a boy, a young lad, quite a young lad, and you may recollect very well, when you were a young lad yourself, you were just in the very same predicament in America, and that it was a lady there saved your life, and upon my honour I'll save his life and you must do it.

Farrell was thus spared the gallows but was deported for seven years. Asgill's story seems to have gone full circle as a consequence.

The Asgill Affair in drama

• J.S. le Barbier-le-Jeune, Asgill.

Drama in five acts, prose, dedicated to Lady Asgill, published in London and Paris, 1785. The author shows Washington plagued by the cruel need for reprisal that his duty requires. Washington even takes Asgill in his arms and they embrace with enthusiasm. Lady Asgill was very impressed by the play, and, indeed, Washington himself wrote to thank the author for writing such a complimentary piece, although confessed that his French was not up to being able to read it. A copy of this play is available on the Gallicia website:

• Gallicia listing of 78 references to Charles Asgill in French Literature

See also

• Robert Taylor
• 2nd Canadian Regiment
• Ogle Baronets

Further reading

• Holger Hoock, Scars of Independence: America's Violent Birth. Crown, New York 2017. pp. 335-357
• "Perfidious America". The Economist. 20 December 2014. pp. 64–66.
• Jayne E Smith, Vicarious atonement: revolutionary justice and the Asgill case. New Mexico State University, 2007.
• Robert Tombs and Isabelle Tombs, That Sweet Enemy: The British and the French from the Sun King to the Present. London: William Heinemann, 2006.
• Rodger McHugh (ed.), Voice of Rebellion: Carlow in 1798 — The Autobiography of William Farrell. Introduction by Patrick Bergin. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1998. —First published in 1949 as Carlow in '98.
• Joan Belonzi, The Asgill Affair. Seton Hall University, 1970.
• Thomas Pakenham, The Year of Liberty: The Great Irish Rebellion of 1798. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1969.
• Arthur D. Pierce, Smugglers' Woods: Jaunts and Journeys in Colonial and Revolutionary New Jersey. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1960.
• Gerald O. Haffner, "Captain Charles Asgill, An Incident of 1782," History Today, vol. 7, no. 5 (May 1957).
• Cecil Faber Aspinall-Oglander, Freshly Remembered: The story of Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch. London: Hogarth Press, 1956.
• Katherine Mayo, General Washington's Dilemma. London: Jonathan Cape, 1938.
• Ambrose E. Vanderpoel, History of Chatham, New Jersey. Charles Francis Press, New York, 1921. Chapters 17-20.
• John Lawrence Lambe, Experiments in Play Writing, in Verse and Prose. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1911.
• Memoir of General Graham with notices of the campaigns in which he was engaged from 1779 to 1801, ed. Col. James. J. Graham, (Edinburgh: R&R Clark, 1862), 91-92.
• David Humphreys, The Conduct of General Washington Respecting The Confinement of Capt. Asgill Placed In Its True Point of Light. New York: Printed for the Holland Club, 1859
• Roger Lamb, An Original and Authentic Journal of Occurrences During the Late American War from its commencement to the Year 1783. Dublin: Wilkinson and Courtney, 1809. —See especially pp. 416–434.
• Charles Joseph Mayer, Asgill, or the Disorder of Civil Wars. Amsterdam and Paris: Rue et Hotel Serpente, 1784.

External links

• "Documents of the American Revolution: Joshua Huddy Era," Monmouth County Archives, Monmouth County, New Jersey. www.co.monmouth.nj.us/ —Catalog of an exhibition at Monmouth Country Library Headquarters, October 2004.
• "General Washington's Terrible Dilemma," Massachusetts Historical Society, Letter from George Washington to Benjamin Lincoln, 5 June 1782.
• From Alexander Hamilton to Major General Henry Knox, (7 June 1782), a letter from Alexander Hamilton to Henry Knox arguing against the execution.