Colonel Richard Augustus Warren (1705–1775), also known as Sir Richard Warren, was an Irish
Jacobite soldier who served in the French
Irish Brigade and in the
Jacobite rising of 1745
The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theàrlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took ...
.
He led the naval mission to rescue
Charles Edward Stuart from Scotland in 1746.
Biography
Warren was born at
Corduff, the son of John Warren and Mary Jones. The family's financial situation compelled Warren to emigrate to France, where he briefly worked as a merchant in
Marseilles. In 1744 he became a volunteer captain in the French army, joining an Irish regiment and fighting at the
Battle of Fontenoy. He was commissioned by
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
to lead two ships of French reinforcements for the 1745 Jacobite rising, landing at
Stonehaven
Stonehaven ( , ) is a town in Scotland. It lies on Scotland's northeast coast and had a population of 11,602 at the 2011 Census.
After the demise of the town of Kincardine, which was gradually abandoned after the destruction of its royal cast ...
in October 1745 with soldiers for the army of Prince Charles, the Young Pretender. Charles promoted Warren to Colonel after observing his construction of battery defences at Perth and Warren became
aide-de-camp to General
Lord George Murray.
He was present at the
Siege of Carlisle before returning to France to source further reinforcements. In gratitude for the news, and for the safe delivery of several prisoners captured at the battle, the French court awarded him the rank of colonel, and he was made a knight of the
Order of St Louis
The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis (french: Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint-Louis) is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a rewa ...
.
Rescue of Charles Edward Stuart
![Lochaber No More](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Lochaber_No_More.jpg)
Following the Jacobite defeat at the
Battle of Culloden in April 1746, Warren volunteered to lead the mission to rescue Prince Charles from Scotland. Departing from
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast.
The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...
on 31 August with two French ships, ''Le Prince de Conti'' and ''L’Heureux'', he landed at Loch nan Uamh in the
Sound of Arisaig
The Sound of Arisaig Lochaber, Scotland, separates the Arisaig peninsula to the north from the Moidart peninsula to the south. At the eastern, landward end, the sound is divided by Ardnish into two sea lochs. Loch nan Uamh lies to the north of Ardn ...
on 6 September.
After three weeks of searching, the Prince and his small group of supporters were found and Warren departed with them on 30 September. Warren's ships landed at
Roscoff
Roscoff (; br, Rosko) is a commune in the Finistère département of Brittany in northwestern France.
Roscoff is renowned for its picturesque architecture, labelled (small town of character) since 2009. Roscoff is also a traditional departure ...
in north west France on 10 October. On 3 November 1746
James Francis Edward Stuart
James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs, was the son of King James II and VII of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his second wife, Mary of Modena. He was Prince of Wales fro ...
made Warren a
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...
in the
Jacobite peerage for "gallant service"; however he was only allowed to use this title publicly after 1751.
French service
Warren returned to French service and became aide-de-camp to Marshall
Maurice de Saxe
Maurice, Count of Saxony (german: Hermann Moritz von Sachsen, french: Maurice de Saxe; 28 October 1696 – 20 November 1750) was a notable soldier, officer and a famed military commander of the 18th century. The illegitimate son of Augustus I ...
. In 1750 he was made "brigadier general of the English troops" as a reward for his loyalty to the Jacobite cause. He visited
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 1751 and was included on a list of proposed
attainders for Jacobite rebels in 1752.
On the outbreak of the
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 (175 ...
in 1756 he was appointed brigadier of infantry in the French army and was given command of the Irish Brigade. In 1762 he became a
Maréchal de camp and soon after a French subject.
He died unmarried and heavily in debt in 1775, having unsuccessfully petitioned the Stuarts for a Jacobite peerage.
[Patrick M. Geoghegan]
'Warren, Richard Augustus'
''Dictionary of Irish Biography''. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Richard
1705 births
1775 deaths
18th-century Irish people
Baronets in the Jacobite peerage
French military personnel of the Seven Years' War
Irish emigrants to France
Irish Jacobites
Irish soldiers in the French Army
Jacobite military personnel of the Jacobite rising of 1745
Knights of the Order of Saint Louis