John Ligonier, 1st Earl Ligonier | |
|---|---|
 John Ligonier, 1st Earl Ligonier | |
| Master-General of the Ordnance | |
| In office 1759–1763 | |
| Commander-in-Chief of the Forces | |
| In office 1757–1759 | |
| Military Governor of Plymouth | |
| In office 1752–1759 | |
| Governor of Guernsey | |
| In office 1750–1752 | |
| Member of Parliament for Bath | |
| In office 1748–1763 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jean Louis de Ligonnier[1] 7 November 1680 Castres, France |
| Died | 28 April 1770 (aged 89) North Audley St, London |
| Resting place | St Andrews, Cobham, Surrey [2] |
| Relations | Francis Ligonier (1693–1746) |
| Awards | Knight of the Bath |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  England Great Britain |
| Years of service | 1702–1759 |
| Rank | Field marshal |
| Unit | Colonel, 7th Dragoon Guards 1720–1749 Grenadier Guards 1757–1770 |
| Battles/wars | |
Field Marshal John Ligonier, 1st Earl Ligonier, KB, PC (born Jean Louis de Ligonnier; 7 November 1680 – 28 April 1770), styled Sir John Ligonier from 1743 to 1757, was a French-born British soldier and politician who fought for the English and British armies for more than half a century. In 1757, he was appointed Commander-in-chief and raised to the peerage as Viscount Ligonier in 1757, and in 1766 further elevated as Earl Ligonier.
Ligonier was a Huguenot refugee who fled his native Castres for England in 1697, following the 1685 Edict of Fontainebleau, which stripped the rights of French Protestants to practice their religion. He joined the British Army in 1702 as a volunteer, and for the next six decades was dedicated to the British cause. He fought in the European wars of the Spanish Succession, of the Quadruple Alliance, and of the Austrian Succession. During the Seven Years' War, he also served as Master-General of the Ordnance, effectively acting as Minister of War for the Pitt–Newcastle ministry. He retired from active duty in 1763 and died at his home in London on 28 April 1770.
He sat in the House of Commons for Bath from 1748 to 1763 and served as Governor of Guernsey from 1750 to 1752.
- ^ Agnew, David C. A. (1866). Protestant Exiles from France in the Reign of Louis XIV: Or, The Huguenot Refugees and Their Descendants in Great Britain and Ireland. Private circulation. p. 254. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
- ^ Heathcote 1999, p. 204.