John Ligonier, 1st Earl Ligonier
Field Marshal John Ligonier, 1st Earl Ligonier, (7 November 168028 April 1770), was a French Huguenot exile, born Jean Louis de Ligonier in Castres, Southern France. He had a long and distinguished career in the British army and was appointed Commander-in-chief in 1757. During the Seven Years' War, he also served as Master-General of the Ordnance, effectively acting as Minister of War for the Pitt–Newcastle ministry. He retired from active duty in 1763 and died at his home in London on 28 April 1770. Military career The son of Louis de Ligonier, a member of a Huguenot family of Castres in the south of France that had emigrated to England in 1697,Pilkington p. 546 and Louise Ligonier (née du Poncet), John Ligonier was educated in France and Switzerland. He joined a regiment in Flanders commanded by Lord Cutts in 1702. He fought, with distinction, in the War of the Spanish Succession and was one of the first to mount the breach at the siege of Liège in October 1702. After ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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7th Dragoon Guards
The 7th (The Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1688 as Lord Cavendish's Regiment of Horse. It was renamed as the 7th (The Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards for Princess Charlotte in 1788. It saw service for two centuries, including the First World War, before being amalgamated with the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, to form the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards in 1922. History During the 1688 Glorious Revolution, William Cavendish, later Duke of Devonshire raised a troop of horse to provide an escort for Princess Anne, younger daughter of James II. After James fled into exile, a number of independent troops were brought together to form Lord Cavendish's Regiment of Horse. During the Williamite War in Ireland, it fought at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, before moving to Flanders in 1692 to serve in the Nine Years' War. It took part in the action at Dottignies in July 1693 and the siege of Namur in July 1695, before th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lord Ligonier (slave Ship)
''Lord Ligonier'' was an 18th-century British slave ship built in New England that unloaded enslaved Africans in Annapolis, Maryland in 1767. The ship was made famous by Alex Haley's novel, '' Roots: The Saga of an American Family'', in which it brought his ancestor, Kunta Kinte, from The Gambia to the colonial United States. Construction ''Lord Ligonier'' was originally laid down in 1763. The ship was built for hauling tobacco, spice, lumber, and human cargo - enslaved Africans. In June 1765 the ship's owner, Horace Andrews, hired a crew of 40 men and a captain named Davies. The ship had six decks in all, four for carrying enslaved Africans and two for hauling spice, lumber, and tobacco. ''Lord Ligonier'' was a sailing ship, built to weather Atlantic storms. It could carry 170 enslaved Africans, 40 crew members, and various amounts of other cargo. Although it could carry 170 enslaved people if they were packed in sideways, the ship's capacity was reduced to 140 when they la ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Oudenarde
The Battle of Oudenarde, also known as the Battle of Oudenaarde, was a major engagement of the War of the Spanish Succession, pitting a Grand Alliance force consisting of eighty thousand men under the command of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy against a French force of eighty-five thousand men under the command of the Duc de Bourgogne and the Duc de Vendôme, the battle resulting in a great victory for the Grand Alliance. The battle was fought near the city of Oudenaarde, at the time part of the Spanish Netherlands, on 11 July 1708. With this victory, the Grand Alliance ensured the fall of various French territories, giving them a significant strategic and tactical advantage during this stage of the war. The battle was fought in the later years of the war, a conflict that had come about as a result of English, Dutch and Habsburg apprehension at the possibility of a Bourbon succeeding the deceased King of Spain, Charles II, and combining their two nations and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Commander-in-chief Of The British Armed Forces
Head of the Armed Forces is the position of the sovereign of the United Kingdom as commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces. However, supreme military authority has been delegated by the monarch to the Defence Council of the United Kingdom, a body officially charged with the direction and administration of the Armed Forces. As the Council and other military bodies all are a part of the Defence Ministry, which itself is a part of the Government of the United Kingdom, the prime minister makes the key decisions on the use of the Armed Forces, while the secretary of state for defence assists the prime minister and administers the day-to-day military operations. Military oath of allegiance Before joining the military all recruits of the British Armed Forces (other than Ratings and Officers in the Royal Navy and Officers in the Royal Marines) must take the following oath: ''I... swear by Almighty God (do solemnly, and truly declare and affirm) that I will be faithful and bear ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bezanson Hugues (1491–1532?), was in common use by the mid-16th century. ''Huguenot'' was frequently used in reference to those of the Reformed Church of France from the time of the Protestant Reformation. By contrast, the Protestant populations of eastern France, in Alsace, Moselle, and Montbéliard, were mainly Lutherans. In his ''Encyclopedia of Protestantism'', Hans Hillerbrand wrote that on the eve of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572, the Huguenot community made up as much as 10% of the French population. By 1600, it had declined to 7–8%, and was reduced further late in the century after the return of persecution under Louis XIV, who instituted the '' dragonnades'' to forcibly convert Protestants, and then finally revoke ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Francis Ligonier
Francis Augustus Ligonier (1693 – 25 January 1746) was a French-born officer of the British Army. Biography He was born François-Auguste de Ligonier at Castres,Stephen Wood, "Ligonier, John, Earl Ligonier (1680–1770)", also including "Francis Augustus Ligonier (1693–1746)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200Retrieved 15 Jan 2012/ref> the third of five surviving sons of the Huguenot Louis de Ligonier, sieur of Monteuquet, and his wife Louise du Poncet. The second son John (Jean Louis) entered the British service in 1697, and another brother Anthony (Antoine) went to England in 1698, dying as a major in the British Army. H. M. Chichester, "Ligonier, John, otherwise JEAN LOUIS, Earl Ligonier (1680–1770)", also including "Ligonier, Francis, otherwise FRANÇOIS AUGUSTE (d 1746)", ''Dictionary of National Biography'', Smith, Elder & Co., 189Retrieved 15 Jan 2012/ref> Francis Ligonier moved to England in 1710 and was secured a commission ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Order Of The Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval and early-modern Europe, bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as "Knights of the Bath". George I "erected the Knights of the Bath into a regular Order (honour), Military Order". He did not (as is commonly believed) revive the Order of the Bath, since it had never previously existed as an Order, in the sense of a body of knights who were governed by a set of Statute, statutes and whose numbers were replenished when vacancies occurred. The Order consists of the Sovereign (currently Charles III, King Charles III), the :Great Masters of the Order of the Bath, Great Master (currently vacant) and three Classes of members: *Knight Grand Cross (:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754–1763), the Carnatic Wars and the Anglo-Spanish War (1762–1763). The opposing alliances were led by Great Britain and France respectively, both seeking to establish global pre-eminence at the expense of the other. Along with Spain, France fought Britain both in Europe and overseas with land-based armies and naval forces, while Britain's ally Prussia sought territorial expansion in Europe and consolidation of its power. Long-standing colonial rivalries pitting Britain against France and Spain in North America and the West Indies were fought on a grand scale with consequential results. Prussia sought greater influence in the German states, while Austria wanted to regain Silesia, captured by Prussia in the previous war, and to contain Pruss ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Lauffeld
The Battle of Lauffeld, variously known as Lafelt, Laffeld, Lawfeld, Lawfeldt, Maastricht, or Val, took place on 2 July 1747, between Tongeren in modern Belgium, and the Dutch city of Maastricht. Part of the War of the Austrian Succession, a French army of 80,000 under Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Army of 120,000, led by the Duke of Cumberland. Arguably the most talented general of his generation, Saxe conquered much of the Austrian Netherlands between 1744 to 1746 although he failed to achieve decisive victory. In the spring of 1747, Cumberland planned an offensive to retake Antwerp but was forced to fall back when the French threatened to cut him off from his supply base at Maastricht. When the two armies met at Lauffeld, a series of mistakes by Cumberland compromised his position and only counterattacks by the Allied cavalry prevented a serious defeat. The battle ended Allied hopes of regaining lost ground and Saxe captured Bergen op Zoom in September, then Maastricht ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Rocoux
The Battle of Rocoux took place on 11 October 1746 during the War of the Austrian Succession, at Rocourt (or Rocoux), near Liège in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, now modern Belgium. It was fought between a French army under Marshal Saxe and a combined British, Dutch, German and Austrian force led by Charles of Lorraine, John Ligonier and Prince Waldeck. The battle ended the 1746 campaign and the two armies went into winter quarters. Despite a series of victories in Flanders, by this point France was struggling to finance the war and had opened bilateral peace negotiations with Britain at the Congress of Breda in August 1746. While Rocoux confirmed French control of the Austrian Netherlands, Saxe had failed to achieve the decisive victory needed to end the war. Background When the War of the Austrian Succession began in 1740, Britain was still fighting the War of Jenkins' Ear with Spain; from 1739 to 1742, the main area of operations was in the Caribbean. British and Du ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Fontenoy
The Battle of Fontenoy was a major engagement of the War of the Austrian Succession, fought on 11 May 1745 near Tournai in modern Belgium. A French army of 50,000 under Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Army of roughly the same size, led by the Duke of Cumberland. At the beginning of 1745, the French were struggling to finance the war but held the initiative in the Austrian Netherlands, which offered the best opportunity for a decisive victory. In late April 1745, Saxe besieged Tournai, whose position on the upper Scheldt made it a vital link in the North European trading network, and thus meant the Allies would have to fight for it. Leaving 22,000 men in front of Tournai, Saxe placed his main force about away in the villages of Antoing, Vezon and Fontenoy, along a naturally strong feature strengthened with defensive works. After a number of unsuccessful flank assaults, the Allies made a frontal attack on the French centre with an infantry column of 15,000 men, before Fren ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Dettingen
The Battle of Dettingen (german: Schlacht bei Dettingen) took place on 27 June 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession at Dettingen in the Electorate of Mainz, Holy Roman Empire (now Karlstein am Main in Bavaria). It was fought between a Pragmatic Army, composed of the British, Hanoverian and Austrian troops, and a French army commanded by the duc de Noailles. While the Earl of Stair exercised operational control, the Allied army was nominally commanded by George II, accompanied by his son the Duke of Cumberland. As a result, it is now best remembered as the last time a reigning British monarch led troops in combat. Despite being an Allied victory, the battle had little effect on the wider war, and has been described as 'a happy escape, rather than a great victory.' Background The immediate cause of the War of the Austrian Succession was the death in 1740 of Emperor Charles VI, last male Habsburg. This left his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, as heir to the Habsburg mon ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |