# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ingoldsby, Richard (d.1712)

​INGOLDSBY, RICHARD (d. 1712), lieutenant-general, commander of the forces in Ireland, does not appear in the family pedigree given by Lipscombe (Buckinghamshire, ii. 169), but is probably correctly described by Sir Alexander Croke (Hist. of Croke, genealogy No. 33) as the son of Sir George Ingoldsby or Ingoldesby, a soldier, who was a younger brother of the regicide, Sir Richard Ingoldsby [q. v.]; married an Irish lady of the name of Gould; was knighted, and was killed in the Dutch wars. Richard Ingoldsby obtained his first commission 13 July 1667. Beyond the statement that he adhered to the protestant cause in 1688, and was employed under King William, the military records afford no information respecting him until 1692, when he held the rank of colonel, and was appointed adjutant-general of the expedition to the coast of France (Home Office Military Entry Book, ii. f. 282; Macaulay, Hist. of England, iv. 290 et seq.) He was appointed colonel of the Royal Welsh fusiliers, vice Sir John Morgan deceased, 28 Feb. 1693, and commanded the regiment under King William in Flanders, being present at the famous siege of Namur. In 1696 he became a brigadier-general. He appears to have been in Ireland from 1697 to 1701. Luttrell mentions his committal to prison for carrying a challenge from Lord Kerry to the Irish chancellor, Methuen, and his release by order of the king on 5 Jan. 1697–8 (Relation of State Affairs, v. 326–8). He had command of the troops sent from Ireland to Holland in November 1701, and commanded a division under Marlborough in 1702–6, and in the attack on Schellenburg. At the battle of Blenheim he was second in command of the first line under Charles Churchill (Marlborough Desp. i. 401, 407). He became a major-general in 1702, and lieutenant-general in 1704. In 1705 he was transferred to the colonelcy of the 18th royal Irish foot from the royal Welsh fusiliers, and appears to have been sent to Ireland on a mission relating to reinforcements for Marlborough's army. Marlborough refers to him as sick at Ghent in 1706 (ib.), in which year he commanded the British troops at the siege of Ath. In 1707 he was appointed one of the comptrollers of army clothing (Luttrell, vi. 270), and was made commander of the forces, master of the horse, and general of artillery in Ireland, posts which he held up to his death. He sat for Limerick in the Irish parliament from 1703. In the absence of the lord-lieutenant, Ormonde, Ingoldsby acted as one of the lords justices. In a letter dated 6 Oct. 1709 Marlborough is glad ‘to learn that my endeavours to do you justice have succeeded to your satisfaction’ (Marlborough Desp. iv. 638). Ingoldsby died in Dublin on 11 (27?) Jan. 1712, and was buried in Christ Church. He appears to have had a son, an officer in the royal Welsh fusiliers when commanded by Brigadier Sabine (ib. vol. v.). Swift (Letters to Stella) and Luttrell cause some obscurity by occasionally styling him ‘brigadier’ after his promotion to higher rank. In the British Museum Catalogue he is indexed as ‘Colonel’ Richard Ingoldsby in 1706 (Addit. MS. 23642, f. 18). Ingoldsby had a contemporary namesake in the service, a Colonel Richard Ingoldsby, who was made major and captain of one of the independent companies of foot in garrison at New York 10 Sept. 1690 (Home Office Military Entry Book, ii. f. 161), was sometime lieutenant-governor of the province of New York (Cal. State Papers, 1697–1707), and died a colonel about 1720 (Treas. Papers, ccxxxiii. 50).
Ingoldsby, Richard (d. 1759), brigadier-general, was son of Thomas Ingoldsby, who was high sheriff of Buckinghamshire in 1720 and M.P. for Aylesbury in 1727–34, and died in 1760. His mother was Anne, daughter of Hugh Limbrey of Tangier Park, Hampshire. Sir Richard Ingoldsby [q. v.] the regicide was his great-grandfather, and the elder Richard Ingoldsby was a distant cousin. He was appointed ensign 1st foot-guards 28 Aug. 1708, became lieutenant and captain 24 May 1711, and captain and lieutenant-colonel 11 Jan. 1715. He was second major of his regiment in Flanders, and was appointed a brigadier of foot by the Duke of Cumberland (Maclachlan, pp. 65, 189–92). The night before Fontenoy (11 May 1745) he was stationed on the British right, with the 12th (Duroure's) and 13th (Pulteney's) regiments of foot, the 42nd highlanders, and the Hanoverian regiment of Zastrow. They were ordered to take a French redoubt or masked battery called the Fort d'Eu, a vital point; cavalry support was promised. Ingoldsby advanced to the attack, but met with such a warm reception from the French light troops in the adjacent ​wood that he fell back and sent to ask for artillery. Further delays and blunders followed; the cavalry never came, and when Cumberland's last advance was made, Ingoldsby was wounded and Fort d'Eu remained untaken, so that the guards, on gaining the crest of the French position, were exposed to a reverse fire from it. Ingoldsby was afterwards brought before a court-martial or council of war, as it was called, at Lessines, of which Lord Dunmore, commanding the 3rd foot-guards, was president, was found guilty of not having obeyed the Duke of Cumberland's orders, and was sentenced ‘to be suspended from pay and duty during his highness's pleasure.’ The duke then named three months to allow Ingoldsby time to dispose of his company and retire, which he did. The king refused to allow him to dispose of the regimental majority, which on 20 Nov. 1745 was given to Colonel John Laforey. A letter from Ingoldsby appealing piteously to the Duke of Cumberland is in the British Museum Addit. MS. 32704, f. 46. Ingoldsby appears to have retained the title of brigadier-general after leaving the army. He died in Lower Grosvenor Street, London, 16 Dec. 1759, and was buried at the family seat, Hartwell, Buckinghamshire. His widow, named in the burial register Catherine, died 28 Jan. 1789, and was buried in the same place. Letters from this lady, signed ‘C. Jane Ingoldsby,’ appealing to the Duke of Newcastle on behalf of her husband, and finally asking for a widow's pension of 50l., are in Addit. MSS. 32709 f. 265, 32717 f. 313, 32902 f. 242, at the British Museum.
H. M. C.