formerly M.P. for the city of London. Sir Robert (who died unmarried in 1828), assumed the name of Blosset, and had for many years a highly respectable forensic reputation as Mr Sergeant Blosset, author of “Reports of Cases on Controverted Elections,” 2 vols., 1804. “He was afterwards Lord Chief-Justice of Bengal, where he afforded his countenance in the support and encouragement of Christian missionaries.” (See “Lady Huntingdon’s Life and Times,” vol. ii., page 200).
Sibourg’s Foot were quartered in Alicant during the memorable siege. The garrison of the Castle of Alicant was besieged by the French and Spaniards in 1708, and held out all winter. The enemy undermined part of the fortress and gave warning to the garrison, that, if afraid, they might surrender; and two British Engineers were allowed to come out and examine the mine. On their report a council of war resolved to hold out still. The enemy then sprang the mine, and as far as the demolition of the castle was concerned, it proved a failure. But Major-General Richards and Colonel Sibourg, out of curiosity, had approached too near, and other officers followed them to avoid the imputation of fear. The consequence was that they were blown up and buried in the ruins of the one bastion that was hurt. Thus died, on March 4, 1709, Colonel Sibourg, Major Vignoles, and above thirty officers and soldiers. The senior surviving officer, Lieut-Colonel D’Albon, continued to hold out till the 18th April, when a capitulation was agreed to; the garrison marched out with two pieces of cannon and every mark of honour, and were conveyed by the British fleet to Minorca.
Most of the officers of Nassau’s, Sibourg’s and Blosset’s, were entitled to the original half-pay fund. The rest were provided for, as appears in the List of Half-pay officers in 1718, “Under Lord Rivers, £346, 15s.”
9. dragoon regiments in portugal (pp. 190, 191).
Lord Galway (as was told before) raised six regiments of Portuguese dragoons, all in British pay, and entirely commanded by British and refugee officers. Luttrell says, “Aug. 9, 1709. Letters from Lisbon of the 4th (n.s.) say that Generals Ogilvy and Wade had presented to the king several English and French officers in order to command his horse, who made objections, saying he never intended his regiments should be commanded by all foreigners, but that each should have half Portuguese officers — to which Lord Galway answered, that ours and his would be always disagreeing, and thereby hinder the operations of the campaign.” The regiments were disbanded in 1711. Their Colonels were Major-General Foissac, Lieutenant-General Desbordes, Major-General Paul de Gually, Colonel La Bouchetière, Colonel Magny, and Colonel Sarlande.
Several of these names have already appeared in our lists. The military rank prefixed to the first three names is the rank the officers attained to before their death. Balthazar Rivas de Foissac followed John Cavalier in the lists as Brigadier in December 1735 and Major-General in July 1739. According to Beatson, Paul de Gually became a Brigadier 12th March 1707; he is Major-General in the list of December 1735. John Peter Desbordes survived all his comrades, he became Brigadier in 1727, Major-General in 1735, and Lieutenant-General in July 1739. The only officer as to whom any biographical information has been preserved is Colonel La Bouchetière. He was a Lieutenant in De Casaubon’s company in Schomberg’s in the Irish campaigns. His memory was long extolled in Waterford by the heads of two distinguished Refugee families, who had been in his regiment in Portugal, namely. Captain Francquefort and the Chaplain, the Rev. Philip Amaury Fleury. In 1719 he was in France as a diplomatist. M. Charles Coquerel, in his “Eglises du Desert chez les Protestants de France” (vol. i., page 91), mentions that Cardinal Alberoni, being bent upon obtaining the post of Regent of France for Philip V. of Spain, intrigued with the Protestants of the Cevennes and the Lower Languedoc, stirring them up to rise in rebellion against the Duke of Orleans, in 1719. Monsieur de la Bouchetière, colonel de cavalerie an service de la Grande Bretagne, was despatched to Poitou, his native province, to dissuade the inhabitants from encouraging
