# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nugent, George

​NUGENT, Sir GEORGE (1757–1849), baronet, field-marshal, born on 10 June 1757, was natural son of Lieutenant-colonel the Hon. Edmund Nugent, 1st foot guards, who died unmarried in 1771, and was brother of Sir Charles Edmund Nugent [q. v.] The father was only son of Robert Craggs Nugent, viscount Clare, and afterwards earl Nugent [see Nugent, Robert Craggs]. George was educated at the Charterhouse School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and on 5 July 1773 was appointed ensign in the 39th foot, with which he served at Gibraltar from February 1774 to March 1776. He was employed recruiting in England from March 1776 to July 1777. In September 1777 he joined the 7th royal fusiliers at New York as lieutenant, served with it in the expedition up the Hudson, and at the storming of forts Montgomery and Clinton, afterwards accompanying the regiment to Philadelphia, where he did duty with it until the evacuation of the city in July 1778. Meanwhile, in April 1778, he had been promoted to captain in the 57th foot. He served with the 57th in the Jerseys and Connecticut, obtaining a majority in the regiment on 3 May 1782. When the 57th left New York for Halifax, N.S., at the end of 1783, Nugent came home, having been promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the old 97th. That corps was disbanded before he joined it, and he was placed on half-pay. In 1787 he was brought into the 13th foot, in 1789 he was transferred to the 4th dragoon guards, and in 1790, as captain and lieutenant-colonel, to the Coldstream guards. From 1787 he was aide-de-camp to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, George Nugent Grenville (afterwards first Marquis of Buckingham) [q. v.] Nugent accompanied the guards to Holland in 1793, and was present at the siege of Valenciennes, the affair at Lincelles, the siege of Dunkirk, &c. When the army went into winter quarters Nugent returned home, and in the course of three months, aided by the Buckingham family interest, raised a corps of six hundred rank and file at Buckingham and Aylesbury, of which he was appointed colonel on 18 Nov. 1793. In command of this corps of ‘Bucks volunteers’—the 85th light infantry of later years—he proceeded to Ireland, and in 1794 to Walcheren, where he held the temporary rank of brigadier-general. Joining the Duke of York's army on the Weal, he was appointed to command a brigade; but Lord Cathcart [see Cathcart, William Schaw] having been appointed to command that part of the army, no officers of the rank of brigadier-general were allowed to serve with it. Nugent then returned home, and was appointed to the Irish staff. He had represented the borough of Buckingham in parliament since 1790, and in 1796 was returned for Buckingham again and for St. Mawes, having been appointed captain and keeper of St. Mawes Castle. He sat for Buckingham until the dissolution of the first parliament of the United Kingdom in December 1800. He became major-general on 1 May 1796. He held commands in the south of Ireland and afterwards at Belfast, commanding the latter district during the whole period of the rebellion. He was adjutant-general in Ireland from July 1799 to March 1801, and represented Charleville, co. Cork, in the last Irish parliament. On 1 April 1801 he was appointed lieutenant-governor and commander-in-chief in Jamaica, a post he held until 20 Feb. 1806, when he returned ​home, having meanwhile attained lieutenant-general's rank on 25 Sept. 1803. On 26 May 1806 he was transferred from the 85th to the colonelcy of the 6th royal regiment of foot, and, by patent dated 28 Nov. the same year, was created a baronet of the United Kingdom in recognition of his services. He was member for Aylesbury in the parliament of 1806–7. He commanded successively the Western and the Kent military districts, resigning the latter in October 1809. He was commander-in-chief in India in 1811–13. He became a full general on 4 June 1813, and in 1815 was made G.C.B. In 1819 he was made an honorary D.C.L. of the university of Oxford, and the same year was returned once more for Buckingham, which he continued to represent until the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832. He was made a field-marshal on 9 Nov. 1846, and died at his seat, Waddesdon House, Little Marlow, Berkshire, on 11 March 1849, aged 92. He married at Belfast, on 16 Nov. 1797, Maria, seventh daughter of Cortlandt Skinner, attorney-general of New Jersey, North America, and by her had three sons and two daughters. She died in 1834.
[Foster's Baronetage; Philippart's Royal Mil. Cal. 1820; Official List of Members of Parliament.]
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