Page:A Compendium of Irish Biography.djvu/386

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Head. In March 1 707, he was promoted to the rank of Rear- Admiral of the Blue, and in the same year served under Sir Cloudesley Shovel in the Mediterranean, and was actively engaged in the abortive attack upon Toulon. After having been advanced to be Vice- Admiral of the White, in 1708 he became Vice- Admiral of the Red, and a few months afterwards Admi- ral of the Blue. His supposed ill-luck in the matter of weather procured for him the appellation of " Foul- weather Jack." In 171 7 he was Envoy-Extraordinary to the Czar. At the time of his death he repre- sented Eye in Parliament, and was the oldest admiral in the British navy, having seen sixty years' service. He died 13th June 1749, aged about 75. "ts 349

Nugent, Sir Richard, 15th Baron Delvin, Earl of Westmeath, was born in 1583. He was descended from Sir Gil- bert de Nugent, who came to Ireland with Hugh de Lacy. At the age of twenty he was knighted in Christ Church, on occasion of the creation of Eury O'Donnell, Earl of Tirconnell. Suspected of being impli- cated in a conspiracy for the subversion of the English power in Ireland, in May 1607 (the discovery of which real or pre- tended plot led to the flight of the Earls of Tyrone and Tirconnell), he was arrested, and committed to the Castle. Thence he escaped a fortnight afterwards, descending into the foss by cords which a servant managed to convey to him. Next year he submitted to the Crown, and was received into favour. He attended the Parliaments of 1613 and 1615, and in 1621 was ad- vanced to the dignity of Earl of West- meath. Eef using to join in the outbreak of October 1641, the Lords- Justices sent a party of horse to escort him to Dublin. The escort was defeated by the Irish near Athboy, and the Earl captui-ed. Though liberated soon afterwards, he ultimately fell a vict- a to the Irish. Lodge tells us : "His lordship, in coming away towards Trim in his coach, was forcibly drawn and hauled out of it, and shot with pistol shots into the thigh, and then, in pulUng and drawing him up and down, they drew both his shoulders out of joint ; of which that noble Earl (being above sixty years old, blind of his eyes, and often struck with a dead palsy) died " [1641]. s* ^'^

Nugent, Thomas, 4th Earl of Westmeath, was a colonel in the Irish army of James II., and was outlawed ; but being one of the hostages exchanged for the observance of the articles of Limerick, the outlawry was reversed, and he was re- stored to his estates and honours. He died in 1752, aged 96. s* 362

NUG

Nugent, John, 5th Earl of West- meath, a cadet in James II. 's Horse Guards at the Boyne, afterwards served with distinction on the Continent — in Flanders, at Luzzara, Eamillies, Oude- narde, Malplaquet, Kehl, and elsewhere. He died in retirement at Nivelles, in Bra- bant, 3rd July 1754, aged 83, the last Catholic representative of the title. '^^ "^

Nugent, Christopher, a Lieutenant- Colonel in James II. 's Irish army, went to France upon the capitulation of Limerick in 1691, and was given command of the Irish Horse Guards. He served in Flanders, and was wounded at Landen. In 1701 he joined the army of Italy and fought at Chiari, Luzzara, and Spire, He com- manded a regiment of the Irish Brigade at Eamillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet. In 17 1 2 he was present at the sieges of Denain and Douay ; and in 1713, at Fri- burg. Having, without permission, ac- companied the Pretender to Scotland in 1715, he was, on the remonstrance of the British ambassador, nominally deprived of his regiment. In 1 718 he became major- general of horse. He died 4th June 1731.'®^

Nugent, Lavall, Count, Field-Mar- shal in the Austrian service, descended from the 1st Earl of Westmeath, was born in Ireland in 1777. At an early age he be- came heir to his imcle Oliver Count Nu- gent, went to Austria in 1789, and entered the Imperial army in 1794. His abilities soon attracted notice. After the battle of Varaggio in 1799, he was elected a Knight of the military order of Maria Theresa, and after Marengo received his commission as major. In 1805 he became a lieutenant- colonel ; 1809, major-general ; and in the same year he was a plenipotentiary to the congress which preceded Napoleon's mar- riage to Maria Louisa. Eefusing to sign the conditions forced upon the exhausted Austrians by Napoleon, he retired to Eng- land and was made a lieutenant-general in the British army. In i8ii he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Austria, and re- turned with important communications relative to the coahtion organizing against France. In the winter of i8i2-'i3 he was sent by the British Government to Spain ; and in 18 13 he resumed the sword for Austria, drove the French out of Illy- ria ; and next year bore a leading part in the successful campaign in Italy. He was gazetted a British K.C.B. In 18 15 he led the force in Tuscany that defeated Murat, and in the summer of the same year com- manded in the south of France. He next became Captain-General of the Neapolitan army ; but in 1820 returned to the Austrian service. Although commanding in Italy