JOHN

See also:

• JOHN LIGONIER (JEAN Louts) LIGONIER, EARL (168o--1770)

LIGONIER (

See also:

• JEAN

JEAN Louts) LIGONIER,

See also:

• EARL

EARL (168o--1770)  , British Field Marshal, came of a Huguenot family of Castres in the south of France, members of which emigrated to England at the close of the 17th century . He entered the army as a volunteer under Marlborough . From 1702 to 1710 he was engaged, with distinction, in nearly every important battle and siege of the war . He was one of the first to mount the breach at the siege of Liege, commanded a company at the Schellenberg and at Blenheim, and was present at Menin (where he led the storming of the covered way), Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet (where he received twenty-three bullets through his clothing and remained unhurt) . In 1712 he became governor of Fort St Philip, Minorca, and in 1718 was adjutant-general of the troops employed in the Vigo expedition, where he led the stormers of Fort Marin . Two years later he became colonel of the " Black Horse " (now 7th Dragoon Guards), a command which he retained for 29 years . His regiment soon attained an extraordinary degree of efficiency . He was made brigadier-general in 1735, major-general in 1739, and accompanied Lord Stair in the Rhine Campaign of 1742-1743 . George II. made him a Knight of the Bath on the field of Dettingen .. At Fontenoy Ligonier commanded the British foot, and acted throughout the battle as adviser to the duke of Cumberland . During the " Forty-Five " he was called home to command the British army in the Midlands, but in January 1746 was placed at the head of the British and British-paid contingents of the Allied army in the Low Countries . He was present at Roucoux (11th Oct .

1746), and, as general of horse, at Val (1st

July 1747), where he led the last charge of the British cavalry . In this encounter his horse was killed, and he was taken prisoner, but was ex-changed in a few days . With the close of the campaign ended Ligonier's active career, but (with a brief interval in 1756-1757) he occupied various high civil and military posts to the close of his life . In 1757 he was made, in rapid succession, commanderin-chief, colonel of the 1st Foot Guards (now Grenadier Guards), and a peer of Ireland under the title of Viscount Ligonier of Enniskillen, a title changed in 1762 for that of Clonmell . From 1759 to 1762 he was master-general of the Ordnance, and in 1763 he became Baron, and in 1766 Earl, in the English peerage . In the latter year he became field marshal . He died in 17.70 . His younger brother, Francis, was also a distinguished soldier; and his son succeeded to the Irish peerage of Lord Ligonier . See Combes, J . L . Ligonier, une etude (Castres, 1866), and the histories of the 7th Dragoon Guards and Grenadier Guards .