Today, we introduce the British military figure Hugh Gough, who was a British Field Marshal, viscount 1st Viscount Gauff, Order of St. Patrick (KP), Knight's Grand Cross Bath (GCB), Knight Commander-in-Chief of the Order of the Stars of India (GCSI), British Privy Councillor (PC), born and died from 3 November 1779 to 2 March 1869.
Born in Linawag to the son of Lieutenant Colonel George Gough and mother to Lititia Goff, Hugh Gough joined the Limerick militia on 7 August 1793, transferred to a local regiment on 7 August 1794, was promoted to lieutenant of the 119th Infantry Regiment on 11 October 1794, and transferred to the 78th (Highlanders) Infantry Regiment on 6 June 1795. During the French Revolutionary War in September 1795 he took part in the capture of the Cape of Good Hope and was transferred to the 87th (Royal Irish Flintlocks) Infantry Regiment, in December 1795 the 87th Regiment was sent to the West Indies, and in 1799 took part in the Dutch expedition to Guyana. Upon his return to England, he was promoted to captain and major of the 2nd Battalion, 87th Regiment in 1803.
During the Peninsular War, Hugh Gough joined sir Arthur Wellesley of Spain in January 1809, commanding the 2nd Battalion of his regiment at the Battle of Talavera, where he was wounded in battle in July 1809. Hugh Gough fought in the Battle of Barossa, and his regiment captured a French Imperial Eagle Scepter in March 1811. On 30 March 1811, Hugh Gough was promoted to lieutenant colonel emeritus. In January 1812 he took part in the siege of Tarifa, in June 1813 at the Battle of Vitoria and the Battle of Nivelle, and was again seriously wounded in November 1813. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel on 25 May 1815. He was awarded the Order of The Bass of the Rank of Company on 4 June 1815 and was appointed Knight Bachelor of the Lower Rank on 16 March 1816.
On 12 August 1819, Hugh Gough was promoted to colonel and became commander of the 22nd Infantry Regiment in Tiprary County, where he served as magistrate. On 22 July 1830 Hugh Gough was promoted to major general and on 18 September 1831 he was promoted to knightly commander of the Knights of the Order of Bath.
In 1837, Hugh Gough became commander of the Mysore Division of the Madras Army. At the beginning of the First Opium War in March 1839, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in China, commanded the British offensive at the Battle of Canton in May 1841, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in India and China on 18 June 1841, and in August 1841 he commanded the British Army in the Battle of Xiamen. On 14 October 1841, Hugh Goff's Order of Bass was promoted to the Grand Cross of Knights. On 23 November 1841, Hugh Gough was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and commanded the British at the Battle of Chap in May 1842 and the Battle of Zhenjiang in July 1842. After the treaty of Nanking, the British army withdrew from China and Hugh Gough returned to India. On 1 December 1842, Hugh Goff was knighted as a baron and on 3 March 1843 he was promoted to the rank of local general in India.
In August 1843, Gough became commander-in-chief of India, and in December commanded the British army to defeat the Maratha Army at the Battle of Gwalior. In December 1845 he commanded the British forces at the Battle of Muki, at the Battle of Philozesa in December 1845 and at the Battle of Sobran during the First Anglo-Sikh War in February 1846. Lord Hardinger, the Governor-General of India, loyally supported Gough and served under him in these battles. On 7 April 1846, Hugh Gough was promoted to Baron Gauff of Zhenjiang, The East Indies Malappur and Satle, and officially became a British nobleman.
In the Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848, Hugh Gough personally served as commander of the battlefield at the Battle of Ramnagaal in November 1848 and the Battle of Chillian Walla in January 1849, but was criticized for relying too much on infantry frontal attacks instead of artillery in tactics, and was succeeded by Sir Charles Napier as commander-in-chief, but before his orders arrived, Hugh Gough had already won a decisive victory against the Sikhs at the Battle of Gujarat in February 1849. Upon his return to Ireland, Hugh Gough was promoted to Viscount Of Gauff in Gujarat and Limerick, Punjab on 4 June 1849. Later that year, he retired from active service and was promoted to the rank of British General on 20 June 1854.
Hugh Goff also served as commander of the 99th Infantry Regiment, commander of the 87th Infantry Regiment, and commander of the Royal Horse Guard. In Dublin, he was a member of the Kildare Street Club. On 9 November 1862, Hugh Gough was promoted to Field Marshal.
Hugh Gough died at his home in Buttestown on 2 March 1869, and the funeral was held at St. Helen's Church and buried in Stevengo. In 1869, the British began proposing a statue of Gough, but this was rejected by the Dublin Company, including his ruins at Carlisle Bridge, Foster Square and Westmoreland Street. In 1880, a statue of Gough riding by John Foley was finally erected outside Phoenix Park in Dublin, which was destroyed several times in the 1940s and 1950s and was forced to move to Chillingham Castle in Northumberland in 1990.
The inscription of the statue reads: In honor of Viscount Hugh Gough, a distinguished Irishman, his achievements in the Peninsular War, China and India added luster to the military glory of the country he had loyally served for 75 years. The statue was built by friends and comrades.
The statue of Hugh Gough was made from cannons captured by Gough in China and India that supplied the statue with 15 tons of metal.
In June 1807, Gough married Francis Maria Stephens, daughter of General Edward Stephens. After being named viscount 1st viscount, he bought Lough Cutra Castle in Galwayshire, Ireland, in 1852 and established the family's ancestral home. Gough's cousins also had a number of celebrities, including Thomas Bunbury of Linawag, a Councillore of Carlow County, and Jane McClintock of Drumekal, the mother of Baron 1st Generation Ras Donnell.