John Abercromby (British Army officer)

Lieutenant-General Sir John Abercromby or Abercrombie GCB (2 April 1772 – 14 February 1817) was a British Army officer and Member of Parliament (MP) for Clackmannanshire from 1815 to 1817.[1]

For other people with the same name, see John Abercrombie (disambiguation).

Sir John Abercromby
John Ambercromby (left=18) at his father's death (1801)
Born2 April 1772
Died14 February 1817 (1817-02-15) (aged 44)
Allegiance United Kingdom
RankLieutenant-General
Commands heldBombay Army
Madras Army
Battles/warsNapoleonic Wars
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Family and early life

John Abercromby was born the son of Lt.-Gen. Sir Ralph Abercromby and Mary Abercromby, 1st Baroness Abercromby.[2] He had an elder brother George, who was born in 1770,[3] and two younger brothers, of whom James was born in 1776 and Alexander in 1784.[2] Abercromby also had three sisters, Anne, Mary, and Catherine.

Career

1782-1802

Abercromby entered the army in 1782 as a cornet in the 4th Dragoons,[4] transferring in 1786 as an ensign to the 75th Highland Regiment.[1] He gained promotion to lieutenant in 1787, and to captain in 1792.[1] He subsequently served as an ADC to his father during campaigns in Flanders (1793–1794), the West Indies (1796–1797), Ireland (1798) and against the Batavian Republic (1799).[1] Promoted to colonel in 1800, he left his father's staff, but became deputy adjutant general and served under General Hutchinson in the force led by his father to Egypt (1801). His father died in battle at Alexandria; but John continued to render admirable service, for which General Hutchinson commended him.[1]

1803-1817

When war broke out anew in 1803 the French detained Abercromby whilst he was travelling in France and imprisoned him at Verdun for the next five years.[1] During his captivity he received promotion to major-general in 1805 and the appointment for life as colonel of the 53rd Regiment of Foot in 1807. Exchanged in 1808 for General Brenier, he became Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army in 1809.[1] From there he led the forces that captured Mauritius in 1810,[5] returning to Bombay in 1811.

In 1813, he transferred to become Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army and temporary acting Governor of Madras, with promotion to lieutenant-general. The Indian climate had broken his health, however, and he had to return to Britain at the end of 1813, where he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.[1]

He was elevated to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1815, and succeeded his elder brother George as Member of Parliament (MP) for Clackmannanshire. However, his worsening health drove him to the Continent, and he died in Marseilles in 1817.[1]

See also

References
  1. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  2. Pine, L.G. (1972). The New Extinct Peerage 1884–1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms. London: Heraldry Today. p. 1.
  3. Cokayne, George Edward (1887). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and The United Kingdom extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. 1 A to Bo (1 ed.). London: George Bell & Sons. p. 9.
  4. R. G. Thorne, ABERCROMBY, Sir John (1772-1817), of Tullibody, Clackmannan. in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, 1986.
  5. Chambers Biographical Dictionary; ISBN 0-550-18022-2, p. 4
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