Sir George Nugent, 1st Baronet, GCB (10 June 1757 – 11 March 1849) was a British Army officer. After serving as a junior officer in the American Revolutionary War, he fought with the Coldstream Guards under the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

during the

Flanders Campaign The Flanders Campaign (or Campaign in the Low Countries) was conducted from 20 April 1792 to 7 June 1795 during the first years of the War of the First Coalition. A coalition of states representing the Ancien Régime in Western Europe – Aus ...

. He then commanded the Buckinghamshire Volunteers in the actions of St. Andria and Thuyl on the river Waal and participated in the disastrous retreat from the Rhine. He went on to be commander of the northern district of Ireland, in which post he played an important part in placating the people of Belfast during the Irish Rebellion, and then became Adjutant-General in Ireland. He went on to be

Governor of Jamaica This is a list of viceroys in Jamaica from its initial occupation by Spain in 1509, to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. For a list of viceroys after independence, see Governor-General of Jamaica. For context, see History of Jamai ...

, commander of the Western District in England, commander of the Kent District in England and finally

Commander-in-Chief, India During the period of the Company rule in India and the British Raj, the Commander-in-Chief, India (often "Commander-in-Chief ''in'' or ''of'' India") was the supreme commander of the British Indian Army. The Commander-in-Chief and most of his ...

Early life

Born the illegitimate son of Lieutenant Colonel the Hon. Edmund Nugent (who was the only son of

Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent Robert Craggs-Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent PC (1709 – 13 October 1788) was an Irish politician and poet. He was tersely described by Richard Glover as a jovial and voluptuous Irishman who had left popery for the Protestant religion, money and w ...

) and a Ms. Fennings. His father had another illegitimate son, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Edmund Nugent. His father's half sister, Mary Elizabeth Nugent, married George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham. Through his Mary, he inherited the title of

Earl Nugent Earl Nugent was a title the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 21 July 1776 for Robert Craggs-Nugent, 1st Viscount Clare, with remainder, failing heirs male of his body, to his son-in-law The 3rd Earl Temple and the heirs male of his body. Cra ...

. Lord Buckingham's aunt, Hester Grenville, had married William Pitt, who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Nugent was educated at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

and the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

Military career

Portrait of George Nugent, Pembroke Cavalry (4673396)

He was commissioned as an ensign in the

39th Regiment of Foot The 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1702. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot to form the Dorsetshire Regiment in 1881. History Early ...

on 5 July 1773 and was posted to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

.Heathcote, p.232 He transferred the 7th Regiment of Foot at

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

with promotion to lieutenant in September 1777 and saw action at the Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery in October 1777 and then took part in the Philadelphia campaign during the American Revolutionary War. He continued to serve in North America and became a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

57th Regiment of Foot The 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot was a regiment of line infantry in the British Army, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot to form the Middlesex Regiment in 1881. His ...

on 28 April 1778 and a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in the same regiment on 3 May 1782.

Flanders and Ireland

Promoted to

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

in September 1783, Nugent was appointed commanding officer of the 97th Regiment of Foot and returned to England, but in the post-war cost reductions the regiment was disbanded and he instead became commanding officer of the

13th Regiment of Foot In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave ...

in 1787.Heathcote, p.233 He became an aide-de-camp to his brother-in-law, the Marquess of Buckingham, who was serving as

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdo ...

, in November 1787. On Buckingham's departure from Ireland, Nugent became commanding officer of the

4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards The 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685 as the Earl of Arran's Regiment of Cuirassiers. It was renamed as the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards in 1788 and service for two centuries, incl ...

in 1789. Nugent became Member of Parliament for

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of Central Milton Keynes, sou ...

in 1790. He exchanged into the Coldstream Guards as a company commander in October 1790 and served at the Siege of Valenciennes in May 1793, the Battle of Lincelles in August 1793 and the Siege of Dunkirk also in August 1793 under the

during the

. The War Office recalled Nugent to supervise the raising of the 85th Buckinghamshire Volunteers in March 1794. He commanded the regiment under Sir Ralph Abercromby in the action at Fort St. Andries, and with Major General David Dundas at

Tuil Tuil is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is a part of the municipality of West Betuwe, and lies about 14 km west of the town Tiel. Jan Willem Boellaard has been Lord of Tuil since 1956. History The area now encompassing th ...

on the river Waal and participated in the disastrous retreat from the Rhine. Promoted to major general on 1 May 1796, he became Captain of

St Mawes Castle St Mawes Castle ( kw, Kastel Lannvowsedh) is an artillery fort constructed by Henry VIII near Falmouth, Cornwall, between 1540 and 1542. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect against invasion from France and the Holy Roman ...

on 5 November 1796 and served in that role until his death. He went on to be commander of the northern district of Ireland in 1798, in which post he played an important part in placating the people of Belfast during the Irish Rebellion that year, and became Adjutant-General in Ireland in August 1799. He also represented Charleville, County Cork in the last Irish House of Commons before the Acts of Union 1800.

Later career

Nugent became

in April 1801 with promotion to local lieutenant general on 29 May 1802. While serving there, he strengthened the fort that the Spanish slave agent in Jamaica, James Castillo, had built in 1709 in Harbour View. Named Fort Nugent, the fort guarded the eastern entrance of the city of

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

Harbour, although all that remains there now is a Martello tower that was added after Nugent's departure. Promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant general on 25 September 1803, Nugent returned to England in February 1806 and became commander of the Western District in England in August 1806. He was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

on 3 November 1806 and created a baronet of Waddesdon in the county of

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

on 11 November 1806. He bought

Westhorpe House Westhorpe House is a Grade II listed building near Little Marlow which was the home of Maria Nugent and Field marshal Sir George Nugent. The Main House is and the Coach House is . History The house was built for James Chase MP in the classic ...

in Buckinghamshire in October 1808 and became commander of the Kent District in England in July 1809. Nugent stood down from his seat in Parliament to become

in January 1811. Having been appointed a

Knight of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one ...

on 1 February 1813 and promoted to full general on 4 June 1813, Nugent was replaced as Commander-in-Chief by

Lord Moira Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings, (9 December 175428 November 1826), styled The Honourable Francis Rawdon from birth until 1762, Lord Rawdon between 1762 and 1783, The Lord Rawdon from 1783 to 1793 and The Earl of Moira b ...

in October 1813. Nugent was relegated to the role of Commander of the

Bengal Army The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Govern ...

but instead chose to return to England in October 1814. On return he unleashed a "skin-full of venom" against Lord Moira who in turn complained to the Prince Regent about Nugent's hostile behaviour. He was advanced to

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one ...

on 2 January 1815 and, having been elected Member of Parliament for

again in July 1818, he was awarded an honorary

DCL DCL or may refer to: * 650 in Roman numerals, see 650 (disambiguation) Computers * Data Center Linux, see Open Source Development Labs * Data Control Language, a subset of SQL * Dialog Control Language, a language and interpreter within AutoC ...

by the University of Oxford in 1819. He finally retired from Parliament in 1832. Nugent also served as honorary colonel of the 85th (Bucks Volunteers) Regiment of Foot, then as honorary colonel of the

62nd Regiment of Foot The 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, which was raised in 1756 and saw service through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 99th (Lanarkshire) ...

and later as honorary colonel of the

6th Regiment of Foot 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. Promoted to

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

on 9 November 1846.

Personal life

On 16 November 1797, Nugent was married to Maria Skinner (1771–1834) in Belfast. Maria was a daughter of Cortlandt Skinner, the Attorney-General of New Jersey and a descendant of the Schuyler and Van Cortlandt families of British North America, Together, they had three sons and two daughters, including: *

Sir George Edmund Nugent, 2nd Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

(1802–1892), who married Maria Charlotte Ridley-Colborne, a daughter of

Nicholas Ridley-Colborne, 1st Baron Colborne Nicholas William Ridley-Colborne, 1st Baron Colborne (14 April 1779 – 3 May 1854) was a British politician. Background Born Nicholas Ridley, he was the younger son of Sir Matthew White Ridley, 2nd Baronet, and Sarah (d. 1806), daughter of Ben ...

. * Louisa Elizabeth Nugent (1803–1875), who married Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe, the eldest son of Betsey and Adm.

Sir Thomas Fremantle ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

. * Charles Edmund Nugent (1811–1890), who married Louisa Douglas Price, a daughter of

Sir Rose Price, 1st Baronet Sir Rose Price, 1st Baronet (21 November 1768 - 24 September 1834) was a British baronet, plantation owner and Cornish landowner. Career On the death of his father in 1797, Rose Price inherited a number of plantations on Jamaica, * Mickleton ...

. * Maria Amelia Nugent, who married Rice Richard Clayton, the fourth son of Sir William Clayton, 4th Baronet. George and Maria Nugent lived at Stowe and enjoyed a close friendship with his aunt and uncle, Lord and Lady Buckingham. Lady Nugent, who died in 1834, wrote a journal of her experiences in Jamaica first published in 1907. Sir George died at Westhorpe House on 11 March 1849 and was buried at St John the Baptist Church in

Little Marlow Little Marlow is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. History The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Baptist lies at the heart of the village, not far from the river and next to the Manor House. The original ...

Descendants

Through his eldest son, he was a grandfather of Sir Edmund Charles Nugent, 3rd Baronet and through his daughter Louisa, he was a grandfather of Thomas Fremantle, 2nd Baron Cottesloe, Admiral Hon. Edmund Fremantle, and Hon. Augusta Mary Fremantle (wife of William Brodrick, 8th Viscount Midleton).

References

Sources

* * *

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Nugent, George 1757 births 1849 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Nugent, George, 1st Baronet British Army personnel of the American Revolutionary War British Commanders-in-Chief of India British field marshals Governors of Jamaica Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath People of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cork constituencies Irish MPs 1798–1800 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs 1820–1826 UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs 1830–1831 UK MPs 1831–1832 39th Regiment of Foot officers Royal Fusiliers officers 57th Regiment of Foot officers Somerset Light Infantry officers 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards officers Coldstream Guards officers King's Shropshire Light Infantry officers George