Template:Infobox military person Lt.-Gen. Forbes Champagné (2 July 1754 – 23 October 1816) was a British Army officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War and served as Commander-in-Chief of the British Indian Army, 1807–11.
Background
Champagné was born into a family of French Huguenot exiles in Ireland,[1] the son of the Very Rev. Arthur de Robillard Champagné, Dean of Clonmacnoise, and Marianne Hamon, daughter of Colonel Isaac Hamon. His paternal great-grandfather was Chevalier Josias de Robillard, Seigneur de Champagné de Torxé, Saintonge,[2] who fled to Holland after the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685,[3] joining William of Orange's army. He married Marie de la Rochefoucauld of the noble house of the same name. Their daughter Susanne married Henri de la Motte-Fouqué, baron de Saint-Seurin et de Tonnay-Boutonne, and was mother of Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué. Their eldest son, Josias de Robillard (Forbes' grandfather), distinguished himself at a young age in service of Major-General Isaac de Monceau de la Melonière, who commanded a regiment of exiles in William's army during the Irish campaigns.[1] He married Lady Jane Forbes, daughter of Arthur Forbes, 2nd Earl of Granard.[4]
Forbes had three brothers: General Sir Josiah Champagné; Rev. Arthur Champagné, vicar of Castlelyons; and Rev. George Champagné, Canon of Windsor and Rector of Twickenham. He had six sisters, including Jane, who married the Earl of Uxbridge; Henrietta, wife of Sir Erasmus Dixon Borrowes, 6th Baronet; and Marianne, wife of Sir Charles des Voeux, 1st Baronet.[1][4]
Military career
Champagné was commissioned into the 4th Regiment of Foot in 1773.[5] He served in the Southern Colonies during the American Revolutionary War[6] and took part in the Battle of Wetzell's Mill in 1781.[7] By 1796 he had been appointed Commanding Officer of the 20th Regiment of Foot.[8]
He was Commander-in-Chief, India from 1807 to 1811 during which time he was promoted to Lieutenant-General.[9]
He also became Colonel of the 1st Battalion of the 95th Regiment of Foot.[10]
He lived in Merton[11] and died on 23 October 1816.[12]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedhuguenot - ↑ Revue de Saintonge & d'Aunis: bulletin de la Société des archives{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(1890)
- ↑ Clerical and Parochial Records of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green(1864)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. H. Colburn(1845)
- ↑ Template:London Gazette
- ↑ Southern Campaigns in the Revolutionary War
- ↑ The American Revolution in North Carolina
- ↑ Reminiscences of my military life from 1795 to 1818, by Charles Steevens
- ↑ Template:London Gazette
- ↑ British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815: 95th Regiment of Foot Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Bulletin 168 Merton Historical Society, December 2008
- ↑ The Paget Brothers 1790-1840
External links
- Urwin, Gregory J. W. (18 October 2016). Journal of the American Revolution: "With Cornwallis to the Dan: Deconstructing the 'Forbes Champagné Letter'
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