VISCOUNT

See also:

• HUGH
• HUGH, ST

HUGH

See also:

• VISCOUNT HUGH GOUGH GOUGH (1779-1869)
• GOUGH, JOHN BARTHOLOMEW (1817-1886)
• GOUGH, RICHARD (1735-1809)

GOUGH GOUGH (1779-1869)  , British field-marshal, a descendant of Francis Gough who was made bishop of Limerick in 1626, was born at Woodstown, Limerick, on the 3rd of November 1779 . Having obtained a commission in the army in August 1794, he served with the 78th Highlanders at the Cape of Good Hope, taking part in the capture of Cape Town and of the Dutch fleet in Saldanha Bay in 1796 . His next service was in the West Indies, where, with the 87th (Royal Irish Fusiliers), he shared in the attack on Porto Rico, the capture of Surinam, and the brigand war in St Lucia . In 1809 he was called to take part in the Peninsular War, .and, joining the army under Wellington, commanded his regiment as major in the operations before Oporto, by which the town was taken from the French . At Talavera he was severely wounded, and had his horse shot under him . For his conduct on this occasion he was afterwards promoted lieutenant-colonel, his commission, on the recommendation of Wellington, being antedated from the day of the duke's despatch . He was thus the first officer who ever received brevet rank for services performed in the field at the head of a regiment . He was next engaged at the battle of Barrosa, at which his regiment captured a French eagle . At the defence of Tarifa the post of danger was assigned to him, and he compelled the enemy to raise the siege . At Vitoria, where Gough again distinguished himself, his regiment captured the baton of Marshal Jourdan . He was again severely wounded at Nivelle, and was soon after created a knight of St Charles by the king of Spain . At the close of the war he returned home and enjoyed a respite of some years from active service .

He next took command of a regiment stationed in the

south of Ireland, discharging at the same time the duties of a magistrate during a period of agitation . Gough was promoted major-general in 183o . Seven years later he was sent to India to take command of the Mysore division of the army . But not long after his arrival in India the difficulties which led to the first Chinese war made the presence of an energetic general on the scene indispensable, and Gough was appointed commanderin-chief of the British forces in China . This post he held during all the operations of the war; and by his great achievements and numerous victories in the face of immense difficulties, he at length enabled'the English plenipotentiary, Sir H . Pottinger, to dictate peace on his own terms . After the conclusion of the treaty of Nanking in August 1842 the British forces were with-drawn; and before the close of the year Gough, who had been made a G.C.B. in the previous year for his services in the capture of the Canton forts, was created a baronet . In August 1843 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the British forces in India, and in . December he took the command in person against the Mahrattas, and defeated them at Maharajpur, capturing more than fifty guns . In 1845 occurred the rupture with the Sikhs, Meantime he published, in 1786, the first volume of his splendid work, the Sepulchra[ Monuments of Great Britain, applied to illustrate the history of families, manners, habits; and arts at the different periods from the Norman Conquest to the Seventeenth Century . This volume, which contained the first four centuries, was followed in 1796 by a second volume containing the 15th century, and an introduction to the second volume appeared in 1799 . Gough was chosen a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1767, and from 1771 to 1791 he was its director .

He was elected F.R.S. in 1.7.75 . He died at

Enfield on the 20th of February 1809 . His books and manuscripts relating to Anglo-Saxon and northern literature, all his collections in the department of British topography, and a large number of his drawings and engravings of other archaeological remains, were bequeathed to the university of Oxford . Among the minor works of Gough are An Account of the Bedford Missal (in MS.) ; A Catalogue of the Coins of Canute, King of Denmark (1777) ; History of Pleshy in Essex (1803) ; An Account of the Coins of the Seleucidae, Kings of Syria (1804) ; and " History of the Society of Antiquaries of London," prefixed to their Archaeologia .