Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet

Sir Charles Asgill, Bt
Personal details
Born	(1762-04-06)6 April 1762 London, England
Died	23 July 1823(1823-07-23) (aged 61) London, England
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Jemima Sophia Ogle
Relations	Sir Charles Asgill, 1st Baronet and Sarah Theresa Pratviel. John Asgill, 1659–1738, (known as "Translated" Asgill) was a relative, both being descendants of Joshua Asgyll MA, DD
Residence	6 York Street, St. James's (1791–1821)[1]
Alma mater	Westminster School University of Göttingen
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Great Britain
Branch/service	British Army
Years of service	1778–1823
Rank	General
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) Flanders campaign (1792–1795) Irish Rebellion of 1798

General Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet, GCH (6 April 1762 – 23 July 1823) was a career soldier in the British Army. Asgill enjoyed a long military career, eventually rising to the rank of general. He is best remembered as the principal of the so-called Asgill Affair of 1782, in which his retaliatory execution while a prisoner of war was commuted by the American forces who held him, due to the direct intervention of the government of France. Later in his career, he was involved in the suppression of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and was Commander of the Eastern Division of Ireland during the Irish rebellion of 1803.

Early life and education[]

Asgill's handwriting in 1778: "An Honest Man is the noblest work of God."

Charles Asgill was born in London on 6 April 1762, the only son of one-time Lord Mayor of London Sir Charles Asgill and Sarah Theresa Pratviel,^[2] whose home was Richmond Place, now known as Asgill House, in Surrey.^[3] He was educated at Westminster School and the University of Göttingen.^[4]

He entered the army on 27 February 1778, just before his 16th birthday, as an ensign in the 1st Foot Guards, a regiment today known as the Grenadier Guards.^[5][6] According to Ambrose Vanderpoel: "Asgill insisted upon entering the army contrary to the wishes of his parents. His father offered to give him a house and £3000 per year [in 2020 worth £480,948 p.a.^[7]] if he would adopt some other profession."^[8] Asgill became lieutenant in the same regiment with the rank of captain in February 1781.^{[5][9][n 1]}

Soon afterwards, Asgill was ordered to North America to fight in the American Revolutionary War. He shipped out for America at the beginning of 1781.^[10] As historian Katherine Mayo writes, after Asgill joined Cornwallis's army: "So came the campaign in the Southern States, of Asgill's share in which little is known save his brother officer's later testimony that, as might be expected of his mother's son, "he was lively, brave, handsome, and a special favourite with his comrades”; while in another soldier's journal of the day one glimpse appears that seems to show him reflecting his father."^[11]

It came at a moment when, because of the illness of senior officers, Asgill must lead the First Foot Guards in [an] attack upon an American post. The Guards having taken their objective, its commander, a white haired colonel hurt in the fight, limped forward to offer his sword to the victor. But the boy, undone at the sight, could think of nothing but youth's due to age, misfortune, and suffering. Here to him was no conquered enemy, but one to whom his sympathy and respect rushed out. With his own arm he supported the wounded man, with his own hands served his needs.^[12][13]

Captain Asgill became an American prisoner of war following the capitulation of Lord Cornwallis following the siege of Yorktown, Virginia, in October 1781.^[5]

The Asgill Affair[]

Preceding events[]

After the Capitulation at Yorktown, by April 1782 tit-for-tat murders between the Patriots and Loyalists had become frequent. One of the Loyalists fighting in the American Revolution, by the name of Philip White, was shot to death in the hands of the Patriots. Accounts of the exact circumstances of his death differ; however, both his brother Aaron who had been captured with him along with a document addressed to George Washington say that he was murdered in cold blood.^[14][15]

Loyalists retaliate[]

The Loyalists took revenge almost immediately. A captain of the Monmouth Militia and privateer named Joshua Huddy was overwhelmed and captured by Loyalist forces at the blockhouse (small fort) he commanded at the village of Toms River, New Jersey. He was taken to a prison ship in New York. Then, "later, under the pretense [sic] of a prisoner exchange",^[16] on 12 April, he was taken from there to Sandy Hook by Loyalist forces where he was hanged, by Richard Lippincott, on the orders of William Franklin. The people of Monmouth County, New Jersey were outraged by Huddy's murder, and demanded of George Washington that a British officer hang to atone for Huddy's death.^[16]

Joshua Reynolds' portrait of George Coussmaker, a Lieutenant and Captain in the 1st Foot Guards, 1782.

Washington's solution[]

Washington then ordered Brigadier General Moses Hazen, in charge of British prisoners in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in two letters sent on 3 and 18 May 1782,^[17][18] to select from British prisoners a captain who was an unconditional prisoner, or if not available then a conditional prisoner (i.e. one protected by the Articles of Capitulation). On reading the letter of 18 May M. le marquis de La Luzerne, the French Minister to the United States, expressed his "astonishment" at its content. He wrote to Washington:^[19]

Lancaster 27th. May 1782. Sir It is with astonishment I read a Letter from your Excellency, dated 18th. May, directed to Brigadier General Hazen, Commanding at this Post, ordering him, to send a British Captain, taken at York-town, by Capitulation, with My Lord Cornwallis, Prisoner to Philadelphia, where 'tis said he is to suffer an ignominious Death, in the room of Capt. Huddy an American Officer...

Washington's orders to Hazen had been urgent, and clear. Lots were drawn at the Black Bear Inn in Lancaster, on 27 May 1782,^[20] where 13 British officers were assembled, but they refused to draw lots since to do so was to condone a violation of the 14th Article of Capitulation, which safeguarded prisoners from reprisal. A drummer boy was ordered to draw names from a hat and Charles Asgill's name tallied with the "unfortunate" lot, drawn from a separate hat.^[16] Soon afterwards Washington wrote to Hazen (who had been greatly distressed by his orders) to complain about Asgill's selection, saying it had been Hazen's "mistake" and asking why apparently available prisoners were not chosen.^[21]

Brigader General Moses Hazen's role[]

Major James Gordon of the Scottish 80th Regiment of Foot who was in charge of British prisoners, wrote to General Sir Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, in command of British forces in New York on 27 May 1782 saying:^[22]

Colonel Elias Dayton's House in Chatham New Jersey, with permission from the Summit Historical Society.

Timothy Day's Tavern, Chatham, NJ, the location of Asgill's imprisonment in 1782. From "At the crossing of the Fishawack" by John T. Cunningham (p.11) with permission from the Chatham Historical Society. "The Asgill Affair" is featured in the Winter 2019 issue of The Journal of Lancaster County's Historical Society, which devoted the entire issue to this subject.^[20]

Map showing locations of Colonel Elias Dayton's house and Timothy Day's Tavern as they were in 1782.

The delicate Manner in which General Hazen communicated his Orders, shews [sic] him to be a Man of real Feelings, and the mild Treatment that the Prisoners have met with since we came to this Place, deserves the warmest Acknowledgements of every British officer.

In a letter to his mother (Lancaster, 29 May 1782) Lieutenant and Captain Henry Greville, 2nd Foot Guards (one of the 13 officers who drew lots) wrote: "We are all at this moment waiting with anxiety to know his fate, we think and hope the confinement and anxiety of mind will be his greatest punishment, every Person in this Town was affected at his Missfortune [sic]. There were more tears shed here the 27^th May than ever fell on any occasion."^[23]

Throughout the following six months no unconditional British captains were ever brought forward to take the place of Asgill, although unconditional Captain John Schaack was held in Chatham, New Jersey for this very purpose.^[24]

Under close arrest in Chatham[]

From Lancaster Asgill was transferred to Chatham, so that he would be in close proximity to those who wished him to suffer death to atone for Huddy and as Mayo says: "If such demand existed, where would be found its storm-centre ? Where but in Jersey ? Where but in Monmouth County"^[25] Initially he was housed in the home of Colonel Elias Dayton, who commanded the Jersey Line. Dayton treated Asgill with kindness, especially when he became too ill to be moved.^[26] When Washington heard that Asgill was "under no constraint", he ordered Dayton to place him in a prison hut, under close guard, at the same time ordering that he be treated with kindness.^[27] It is not known why he was instead sent to Timothy Day's Tavern, where he suffered beatings; deprivation of edible food;^[28] spectators paying to watch him suffering and, what for Asgill was the final straw, deprivation of letters from his family since he was receiving information that his father was very ill and had indeed died.^[29][30] The Americans demanded of Carleton that the perpetrator of Huddy's murder, Lippincott, be handed over to them. Instead the British court martialled Lippincott, who was found not guilty, since he had been obeying the orders of William Franklin. Washington was not satisfied by this outcome and continued to demand that the guilty be given up to save the innocent.^[31]

News reaches London[]

• 

  The London Chronicle Vol. LII, No 3998 From Saturday 13 July to Tuesday 16 July 1782 has articles on three of its pages.

• 

  "Although the situation of Mr. Asgill is not a pleasant one, there is every reason to suppose it not dangerous, as to going to his life;..."p. 51.

• 

  Letter from George Washington to Sir Henry Clinton April 21, 1782 together with Clinton's reply to Washington appear on p. 53.

• 

  "Capt. Asgill, now under strict confinement in Philadelphia...destined to be the object of Gen. Washington's...retaliation" appears on p. 55.

By July 1782 news had reached London and Baron von Grimm reports: "The public prints all over Europe resounded with the unhappy catastrophe..."^[32]

King Louis XVl & Queen Marie Antoinette's role[]

When Asgill's mother, Sarah Theresa, Lady Asgill (who was of French Huguenot origin), heard about her son's predicament, she turned to ministers in Whitehall^[33] and King George III became involved.^[34][35] She then wrote a heartfelt letter to the comte de Vergennes, the French Foreign Minister, on 18 July, in spite of England and France then being at war.^[36] Vergennes showed her letter to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, who in turn ordered Vergennes to write to Washington saying that any violation of the 14th Article of Capitulation would be a stain on the French nation, as well as the Americans, since both nations, along with the British, had signed that Treaty. Lady Asgill sent a copy of Vergennes letter to Washington herself, by special courier, and her copies of correspondence reached Washington before the original from Paris.^[37] These copy letters, from Vergennes (one for Washington and one for Luzerne) were sent from Whitehall to Sir Guy Carleton on 14 August 1782.^[38] Vergennes' original letter to Washington of 29 July 1782 "encountering some accident by the way, was considerably delayed in transit. Lady Asgill's man, on the contrary, came through with speed, but in attempting to penetrate the American lines was discovered, wounded, captured, and his papers taken to General Washington."^[37] But according to Washington, this did not reach him until 25 October. Mayo comments that "an eighty-day-passage from Versailles to Newburgh-on-Hudson, even in that era, needs some explanation."^[39]

Released by the Continental Congress[]

Vergennes' letter, enclosing that of Lady Asgill, was presented to the Continental Congress on the very day they were proposing to vote to hang Asgill, since "A very large majority of Congress were determined on his execution, and a motion was made for a resolution positively ordering the immediate execution."^[4][40] But "On 7 Nov. an act was passed by Congress releasing Asgill".^[5] Congress's solution was to offer Asgill's life as "a compliment to the King of France."^[4]

A week later Washington wrote a letter to Asgill,^[41] which he did not receive until 17 November 1782, enclosing a passport for him to return home on parole. Asgill left Chatham immediately that day.^[42]

Throughout Asgill's ordeal he had been accompanied by the officer in charge of British prisoners, Major James Gordon, remaining alongside him for the six-month imprisonment. Gordon went way above and well beyond his duty to his young charge, according to Keith Feiling, who states: "[his] plain courage and humanity shines in this ugly, tangled business, who spent himself till death for the imprisoned British soldiers, steeled Asgill to his fate, and shared all his prisons and trials."^[43] He also guided and counselled him, and wrote letters to all those who he hoped would be able to save him.^[44] Gordon was, unquestionably, the hero of the Asgill Affair.^[45] Mayo writes that on meeting up with Gordon in New York, Samuel Graham noted that "All Gordon's protests failed to disguise from his eyes the havoc wrought in the last five months. 'He was an altered man,' Graham lamented."^[46]

The Asgill family visit to Paris[]

Amelia Angelina Asgill (1757-1825), the eldest sister of Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet.

In November 1783 Asgill, his mother and two of his sisters went to Paris to thank the king and queen for saving his life.^[47]

Writing about Asgill's eldest sister, Amelia, in relation to the events of 1782, Anne Ammundsen comments that: "when the family became aware that Charles was under threat of execution, Amelia went to pieces and suffered what today would be termed a 'nervous breakdown' and was quite inconsolable. She believed herself to be responsible for her brother's plight and couldn't forgive herself. [She had persuaded their father to allow Charles to join the army] An unknown (possibly Spanish) composer took pity on Amelia and wrote a piece of music for her, entitled 'Miss Asgill's Minuet', no doubt intended to lift her spirits".^[48]

The following article is a translation from the French newspaper, Le Constitutionnel of 22 October 1867, in which they quote from the Mercure de France of 3 November 1783: "The same day … all Paris fought to get hold of the French Mercury in order to read the following: 'Captain Asgill arrived here with his mother and his two sisters [Amelia Angelina & Harriot Maria (known as Maria)]. He had to go to Fontainebleau in order to thank The Count of Vergennes for his powerful intervention for which he owes his life. His sisters are very kind and the eldest especially is as beautiful as an angel. She is not yet fully recovered from the cruel attack of nerves she felt and which frightened her every day when she learned of the sad fate which threatened her brother.' Why so much emotion from us and what interest to Parisiennes is the comings and goings of an English family?"^[49]

The Aftermath[]

Four years after the events of 1782, news reached Washington that Asgill was apparently spreading rumours of ill-treatment whilst in custody in America. Washington was outraged, maintaining that Asgill had been treated well.^[28][50] He decided to publish his entire correspondence on the matter, in the New Haven Gazette and Connecticut Magazine,^[51][52] on 16 November 1786 (with the exception of his letter of 18 May 1782 in which he had violated the 14th Article of Capitulation).^[53] However, Thomas Jones states: "Colonel David Humphreys [Washington's former aide-de-camp] arranged and published them himself, not referring, of course, to Washington's agency in the matter..."^[54] When Asgill read this newspaper, five weeks later in London, he wrote by return to the editor of that paper, on 20 December 1786, denying that he had had any part in spreading those rumours, and taking the opportunity to tell of his mistreatment at the tavern. His letter was never published, until 233 years later, in the Winter 2019 issue of the Journal of Lancaster County's Historical Society.^[20][55]

The Patriot and Loyalist perspective[]

In his denigration of Judge Thomas Jones's account of the American Revolution, Henry P. Johnston writes: "it is difficult to find any confirmation of the Judge's version [regarding Asgill]" and he goes on to say "the whole Gibbet and cruelty story must be relegated, with all the errors and libels already noticed, to the stock of myths from which the loyalist historian drew so freely". The reality was, though, that Asgill's own account of the manner in which he was treated (an innocent man being selected to die from a casual lottery; fed on bread and water; beaten and ogled at by paying customers of the tavern) is clear from his letter to the Editor of the New Haven Gazette of 20 December 1786,^[20] and also in his letter to Washington of 27 September 1782, writing; "these facts, I hope, will operate with your Excellency, to reflect on my unhappy Case, & to relieve me from a state, which those only can form any Judgment of, who have experienced the Horrors Attending it".^[56][57]

Subsequent career[]

Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence of Field-Marshal the Duke of York, who appointed Asgill as an equerry.

Asgill was appointed equerry to Frederick, Duke of York in 1788;^[58] he would hold this post until his death.^[59] On 15 September 1788 he inherited the Asgill baronetcy upon the death of his father,^[60] and on 3 March 1790 he was promoted to command a company in the 1st Foot Guards,^[61] with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.^{[62][n 1]} On 28 August 1790 he married Jemima Sophia (1770-1819), sixth daughter of Admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle, 1st Baronet.^[64] He joined the Army on the Continent in late 1793, and served in the Flanders campaign under the Duke of York. On 26 February 1795 he was granted the rank of colonel,^[65] and later that year commanded a battalion of the Guards at Warley Camp, intended for foreign service.^[62]

Flanders Campaign[]

The Flanders campaign (or Campaign in the Low Countries) was conducted from 6 November 1792 to 7 June 1795 during the first years of the French Revolutionary Wars. In December 1794, The Times reported:

British Head Quarters, Arnheim Nov 27, 1794 Never, since the commencement of this war, has there been such a dearth of intelligence, as at the present period. All is report, and the gossip has been very busy for these few days past. Report says, that the British Parliament is prorogued. This information was conveyed to the army by a flag of truce from the enemy! The enemy have a camp near Neimegen; and we continue to have six regiments on the opposite bank of the Waal, to keep them in countenance. The firing in the environs of Tiel is at intervals very brisk. The French continue to bombard Port St. André, but with little effect. They are raising very strong fortifications at Port Loevestein, where the Merse and the Waal meet. The Dutch, our brave and loving allies, continue to give us the most striking proofs of their affection. One of the Burghers of this town slapped the door in Sir Charles Asgill's face, when he shewed his billet, on the arrival of the grenadier battalion in this town. Lord Cavan's servants were threatened, if they dared put his horses in the stables allotted to them by the Magistrates. In short, there is not a British officer, but has been insulted, more or less, by the Carmagnols of Arnheim. [...] We learn, that the inhabitants of Neimegen are already weary of their French guests.^[66]

In his service records, Asgill states "I was there at the whole of the retreat through Holland, after which I returned to London in the winter of 1794".^[10] Nevertheless, The Times reports a later date: "Yarmouth, March 7 [1795]. Arrived, the Swift, _____, from Embden. Robert Lawrie, Sir Charles Asgill, and others, came passengers in her".^[67] Sir Frederick William Hamilton reports an even later return from the war: "The fleet sailed on the 24th of April [1795], and after encountering contrary winds and serious storms, made the coast of England on the 30th, but did not reach Greenwich till the 8th of May. Three companies of the First Guards disembarked at once, and were inspected by the king; the remainder of the battalion disembarked the next morning, and marched to the parade in St. James's Park. The two grenadier companies of the First Guards, under Lieutenant-Colonels Sir Charles Asgill, who had narrowly escaped the American scaffold, and Ludlow, the future Earl [one of Asgill's fellow officers who took part in the drawing of lots for death in Lancaster], together with the king's company under Lieutenant-Colonel Fitz-Gerald, arrived, on the 15th of May, at Greenwich, where they were met by the colonel of the regiment, the Duke of Gloucester, and on landing, found the king on the pier, who welcomed them back with much earnestness, and shook many of the private soldiers by the hand. They all received on their return eight days' leave of absence to visit their friends."^[68]

Irish Rebellion of 1798[]

In June 1797, Asgill was appointed brigadier-general on the Staff in Ireland. He was granted the rank of major-general on 1 January 1798,^[69][62] and was promoted Third Major of the 1st Foot Guards in November that year.^{[70][n 2]} In his service records, he states he "was very actively employed against the Rebels during the Rebellion in 1798 and received the repeated thanks of the Commander of the Forces and the Government for my Conduct and Service."^[10] General Sir Charles Asgill marched from Kilkenny and attacked and dispersed the rebels. Kathleen Toomey writes: "If the men of the Glengarry Fencibles had suffered from the ennui of inaction on Guernsey, the transfer to Ireland brought it to an abrupt end … Within the next few months, the regiment was kept on the march. In July [1798] they were in Kilkenny and Hacketstown; in August, they were part of Sir Charles Asgill's force in the Shlievenamon mountains prior to the attack on Callan."^[71]

Kilkenny Castle, the signature symbol of the Medieval city.

Liam Chambers states that "the fundamental purpose of the United Irish rebellion of 1798 was the overthrow of the Irish administration based in Dublin; hence their primary military objective was the capture of the capital." He goes on to say that "In Queen's County the pacification was better organized by General Sir Charles Asgill". However, "Rebel failure was the result of the partial nature of the rising, isolated not only by the still-born Dublin effort but by the general inactivity outside the Kildare/south east Meath area". Asgill once more served under Lord Cornwallis, who was Commander-in-Chief, Ireland.^[72]

In an extract of a letter received from Major-General Sir Charles Asgill, Bart., by Lord Viscount Castlereagh, (who assumed many of the onerous duties of the often-absent Irish Secretary during the Rebellion of 1798) Asgill himself writes: "Kilkenny, 26 June 1798 My Lord, - Fearing the consequences that might result from allowing the Rebels who fled from Wexford to remain for any length of time in this country, I preferred attacking them with the troops I already had to waiting till a reinforcement arrived. My force amounted to eleven hundred men. The Rebels consisted of about five thousand. I attacked them this morning at six o'clock in their position on Kilconnell Hill, near Gore's Bridge, and soon defeated them. Their chief, called Murphy, a priest, and upwards of one thousand men were killed. Ten pieces of cannon, two swivels, their colours, and quantities of ammunition, arms, cattle, etc., were taken, and I have the pleasure to add that four soldiers who were made prisoners the day before, and doomed to suffer death, were fortunately released by our troops. Our loss consisted of only seven men killed and wounded. The remainder of the Rebels were pursued into the County of Wexford, where they dispersed in different directions. I feel particularly obliged to Major Mathews, of the Downshire Militia, who, at short notice and with great alacrity, marched with four hundred men of his regiment, and Captain Poole's, and the yeomanry corps of Maryborough, under the command of Captain Gore, to co-operate with me. Lord Loftus and Lieutenant-Colonel Rem, of the Wexford Militia, Lieutenant-Colonel Howard and Lieutenant-Colonel Redcliffe, of the Wicklow, Major Donaldson, of the 9th Dragoons, who commanded the cavalry, as well as all the officers and privates, are entitled to my thanks for their spirited exertions. Nor can I withhold the praise which is so justly due to all the yeomanry corps employed on the occasion; and I also beg leave to mention my aide-de-camp, Captain Ogle [his wife's younger brother, Thomas, 1776-1801], Lieutenant Higgins, of the 9th Dragoons, who has acted as my brigade major.- I have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient servant, C. ASGILL, Major-General"^[73] The Irish song Sliabh na mBan remembers this.^[74][75]

This detail from a 1791 portrait of the Duchess of York by John Hoppner shows Asgill's wife Sophia sitting at her feet. Lady Asgill was Lady of the Bedchamber to the Duchess,^[76] and was godmother to Hoppner's granddaughter, Helen Clarence.^[77]

In William Farrell's autobiography, the author explains how Lady Asgill was instrumental in saving his life. She had persuaded her husband, General Sir Charles Asgill, that since a Lady (Queen Marie Antoinette of France) had saved his life, that he must, therefore, save the life of William Farrell who faced the gallows on account of his part in the Irish Uprising of 1798. Farrell was thus spared the gallows, but was deported for fourteen years.^[78]

"Ah, General Asgill, you must not be too inexorable, particularly in the case of a boy, a young lad, quite a young lad, and you may recollect very well, when you were a young lad yourself, you were just in the very same predicament in America, and that it was a lady there saved your life, and upon my honour I'll save his life and you must do it."

"...the singular and eccentric, but not unamiable wife of General Asgill..." had considerable influence over her husband, which didn't stop with Farrell, since she was able to persuade Asgill to save two other Irishmen from the death penalty, namely William and James Maher. Their sister, Mary, had managed to see Lady Asgill in Kilkenny, but Asgill "would never have conceded mercy to a croppy". Nonetheless, he did provide Mary with the authority required to save them from death. Mary reached her brothers too late, and they both died from a fever contracted whilst held prisoners.^[79]The city of Kilkenny presented Asgill with a snuff box for his "energy and exertion" which was praised by the Loyalists.^[80]

The hot water urn presented to Charles Asgill by the people of Clonmel in honor of his defeat of Irish rebels in the town of Clonmel in 1801.

Lady Melbourne wrote: "What L^y Asgill says is ye real test of a Womans cleverness – that is managing her Husband – she says it is what every Woman ought to Study for her own happiness & her Husbands too – & she never can think any one can have any pretentions to cleverness who does not do so, by some means or other – "^[81]

On 9 May 1800 Asgill was transferred from the Foot Guards to be colonel commandant of the 2nd Battalion, 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot.^[82][83] He went onto half-pay when the 2nd Battalion was disbanded in 1802.^[84][10] Later that year he was again appointed to the Staff in Ireland, commanding the garrison in Dublin and the instruction camps at the Curragh.^[62]

Asgill was presented with a silver hot-water urn by the people of Clonmel in appreciation of his part in the uprising in their town in 1801. The inscription on the urn reads: "PRESENTED by the Inhabitants of the Town and Neighbourhood of CLONMEL to MAJr. GENl. SIR CHAs ASGILL BARt. in token of their great regard for His unremitting exertions as General Commanding in the district in defeating the Schemes of the Seditious and Protecting the loyal Inhabitants. CLONMEL MDCCCI".^[85]

Service in Dublin[]

In 1801, before being appointed to the garrison in Dublin, Asgill found himself defending the right of Henry Ellis (in the neighbourhood of Kilkenny) to be properly remunerated for the invaluable intelligence he had provided during the rebellion. His information had made a significant contribution to the suppression of the rebels, but he paid a severe price for his loyalty after the fighting was over. His neighbours persecuted him; tried to kill him; and ruined his business as a miller. The British were very slow to pay his annuity of £30 per annum for life, and he became a ruined man. Sir Charles Asgill and Lord Castlereagh took up his cause (with a Mr A. Marsden) to see that he was properly compensated. Nevertheless, Ellis suffered greatly because of "his grievious [sic] situation, and losses, on account of his loyalty to his king and government". When he died he was buried in "an inverted burial in the unconsecrated ground of his own farmland, … The lack of any memorial stone or grave marker is mysterious. Perhaps one was destroyed generations ago by inhabitants of the locality or never erected in anticipation of such an act."^[86]

Much of Asgill's military career was spent at Dublin Castle.

In his service records Asgill states: "On the 18th March 1803 I was reappointed to the Staff of Ireland, and placed in the Command of the Eastern District, in which the Garrison of Dublin is included; I was in Command during the Rebellion which broke out in the City in July 1803."^[10]

Asgill was promoted to lieutenant general in January 1805.^[87] At a court martial held at the Barracks, Dublin, on 30 December 1805, charges were laid against Lieutenant Colonel Charles Belson of the 2nd Battalion of the 28th Regiment of Foot regarding a punitive punishment he ordered against Private Patrick Reardon of that regiment: "causing to be carried into immediate execution a corporal punishment of two hundred lashes, and, after his recovery from the effects of his punishment, by keeping him two or three hours a day at the dumb-bells". Reardon had been transferred from the first battalion, "in which he had served several years, to the second, in consequence of infirmity and inability to undergo the duties and fatigues of general active service". Belson's orders had been carried out while Reardon's case was still under consideration by Lieutenant General Sir Charles Asgill. The Court, therefore, sentenced Belson to be "reprimanded in such manner as His Majesty may think proper to direct"... "In his defence they cannot adjudge him Guilty of any criminal disobedience of orders", and was acquitted of that charge. Although "in some of the matters of the preceding charges, there has been a degree of irregularity and want of due discretion on the part of Lieutenant Colonel Belson". The Court also found Belson not guilty of gross disrespect to Asgill.^[88]

Asgill was appointed Colonel of the Regiment of the 5th West India Regiment (February 1806);^[89] of the 85th Regiment of Foot (October 1806);^[90] and of the 11th (North Devonshire) Regiment (25 February 1807),^[83][91] for which he raised a second battalion in the space of six months.^[92] He mentions the men of the 11th in his will, in a Codicil written on 15 July 1823, eight days before his death. "The sum of eight hundred pounds [about £95,852 in 2020^[93]] which are at my agent's hands, Messrs. Greenwood & Co., Grays Court, agents, or will be deposited this month at my off reckoning, for the cloathing [sic] of the 11th Foot, due to me."^[94]

Soldier of the 11th Foot in 1742. The red coat displays the regiment's green facings.

Alongside a date of 30 October 1806, Asgill writes in his service records: "My Leaves of Absence have been very short, and not frequent. I am acquainted with the French Language, and was also with the German, but from want of practice have nearly forgotten the latter."^[10]

Asgill, having established a second battalion of the 11th Regiment of Foot, had to pay to equip his men out of his own pocket – he then experienced difficulty receiving a refund from the Treasury. Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Wellesley, the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, wrote from Dublin Castle to his brother Henry, Joint Secretary to the Treasury, on 3 January 1809: "I enclose some papers which I have received from Sir Charles Asgill relative to the issue of 8 months off reckonings for the Second Battallion [sic] 11th Regiment [no copies present]. He is entitled to this issue, but the ground on which he desires to have the money at an early period is that he raised the regiment in this country and purchased for them the accoutrements and other articles the expense of which this advance is intended to defray and that whenever articles of this description are purchased in Ireland they must be paid for in ready money, as the tradesmen are unable to give credit as they do in England. An officer, therefore, who incurs the expenses here ought to receive the money from the Treasury to defray them as soon as possible, otherwise he must [borrow] the amount which is his due and pay interest for it. I shall be obliged to you if you will endeavour to manage this matter in such a manner as *will* that Sir Charles Asgill may receive his 8 months off reckonings immediately."^[95]

Retirement[]

Asgill was much shocked to receive a letter from the Duke of York, on 3 January 1812, telling him that on account of Lieutenant General Sir John Hope's appointment to the Command of the Forces in Ireland, that "you will unavoidably be discontinued on the staff of the Army." The Duke goes on to say:^[96]

At the same time that I was honoured with the Prince Regent's Commands, upon this subject, I received His Royal Highness' Express Directions, to signify to you, His entire approbation of your zeal and ability, in the Discharge of the Duty which has been entrusted to you, and it is with great satisfaction, that I embrace this opportunity of assuring you, of my best thanks, for the able assistance I have invariably experienced from you, and of my regret that the Military Arrangements do not admit, for your employment upon the Staff of the Army, in Great Britain, at present.^[97]

Asgill was almost 50 years old at the time, and explains, in his reply to Colonel John McMahon, Private Secretary to the Prince Regent: "I shall for the first time in my life return to England with a reduced income, and without any employment, which is not very pleasant to my feelings after an uninterrupted service of thirty four years, fifteen of which have been spent on the Staff of Ireland." He continues: "As it is probable, the Prince Regent's Establishment will be soon arranged, I beg leave to mention to you that I should consider myself highly honoured if His Royal Highness would be pleased to appoint me to any Situation he might deem me competent to fill … I should esteem it a very great favour if you will have the goodness to take an opportunity of making my wishes known." It is not known whether his request was even acknowledged.^[98]

Asgill continued to serve on the Staff until 1812,^[62] and on 4 June 1814 he was promoted to general.^[99] In 1820 he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order.^[100]

Death and legacy[]

Court cases[]

Coat of arms of Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet. The motto translates as "regardless of his own interest".^[101]

On Christmas day 1788, just three months after his father had died, Asgill's younger sister Harriot Maria (1767-1790) wrote her will, with no witnesses and no legal representation. By April 1790 she had died, aged 22, leaving a substantial fortune to her family; her will also stating "if there is money left unemployed I desire it may be given in charity"; and going on to say: "I hope there will be no objections made …". Whether it had been her intention, or not, the fact is that £2,000 was left "unemployed" which amounts to the equivalent of £303,532 in 2020.^[102] Following their mother's death, then, on 27 February 1818, Charles Asgill's youngest sister, Caroline, and her husband Richard Legge, took the matter to court (and appeal), with the final judgement declaring that the money "left unemployed" must go to charity, stating "There never has been a case in which the executors have been permitted to take the residue for their own use …"^[103] The family squabbles about money ran deep and Asgill makes it clear in his will that if these continue all the individual bequests to his family will be revoked. With regard to his sister Caroline Legge he states: "And if my said sister and her present or any future husband shall, if living, refuse to comply with the condition hereby required of them, then I revoke the bequests hereby made to or in favour of the children of my said sister, living at my decease, and I give in such case all sum or sums of money and legacies hereby bequeathed to or in favour of such children to the present children of the said Sir Charles Ogle [his brother-in-law] equally to be divided between them". The same terms apply to them all.^[104]

The following year, on 7 December 1791, Asgill was once more involved in a court case, this time at the Old Bailey. His servant, Sarah Paris, had stolen some items from him. She had passed some of these items on to William Turnbull, a servant of Colonel Banastre Tarleton, who had fought in the American Revolution with Asgill. Asgill stated that she was pregnant and has another child with the supposed father absent. Turnbull was likely the father of the unborn child and stated in court that he was not her husband, but that he had cohabited with her.^[105]

Asgill pleaded for clemency under her circumstances: "I am induced to think it was extreme poverty which drove her to it, for she is with child, and has another, and the supposed father was absent; I had the best character with her." He went on to say: "My lord, I beg leave to observe, that I was induced to be lenient to this man, in hopes that he will take care of the children." At the conclusion of the hearing he also said: "My lord, I beg leave to recommend her strongly to mercy." The judgement was read as: "Court. Sarah Paris, you have been indicted and convicted of a felony, in stealing a quantity of linen, and other things, the property of Sir Charles Asgill, your master, who has very humanely recommended you to mercy, as also the Jury have recommended you with equal humanity; your situation influences me to pass on you the mildest punishment that I can pass upon you; and as I have a power, by the late act of parliament, to commute burning in the hand for a pecuniary punishment, my sentence is, that you be fined 1 s. and discharged."^[105] Her fine amounted to approximately £7.58 in 2020.^[106]

Family life[]

Joshua Reynolds' portrait of Georgiana Cavendish (née Spencer), Duchess of Devonshire, who was part of the same Whig social circle as Asgill and his wife Sophia.

Lady Melbourne wrote that "Asgill was a member of the duchess of Devonshire's circle and a friend of Madame de Coigny at Harrington House." Speaking of Sophia Asgill, Lady Bessborough wrote: "she puts me quite out of patience with her coquetry and affectation."^[107] They were reported in each other's company in The Times from time to time. One such occasion was on 16 September 1802: "Lord Say and Sele gave a dinner at Broadstairs, and in the evening a Concert of vocal and instrumental music. The Duchess of Devonshire, the Duchess of Manchester...Sir Charles and Lady Asgill...were of the party".^[108] They enjoyed the theatre too and through one of Sophia's Ogle cousins, who was Richard Brinsley Sheridan's second wife, were frequently in his company. "Sheridan was over forty-three and his bride not yet turned twenty, when, on 27 April 1795, he wedded Esther Jane Ogle, the youngest daughter of Newton Ogle, Dean of Winchester"..."while she, at first reported to have exclaimed, 'Keep away, you terrible creature,' ended by declaring, so testifies Thomas Grenville, that Sheridan was the 'handsomest and honestest man in England'". The Asgills were prominent at Sheridan's funeral after his death on 7 July 1816, where he is buried at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey: "personal friends like Erskine and Lynedoch, the Dukes of York, Sussex and Argyll followed the coffin. Burgess, Bouverie [Sophia's sister, Arabella's husband], and Asgill followed".^[109]

From 1791 to 1821 Asgill lived at No. 6 York Street (subsequently renamed 7 Duke of York Street), off St James's Square.^[1] Lady Asgill died at York Street on 30 May 1819.^[110][111] Sophia's death was a bitter blow for Lord Lynedoch too and on 12 May 1819 he wrote:^[112]

For the last five or six days I have not stirred out of Sir Charles Asgill's house, and we have all been in the greatest alarm about Lady Asgill, whose health for some months has been very indifferent, but a sudden and violent attack of spasm has put her life in imminent danger and has left her in so low and reduced a state as to render the result very precarious.

"These fears were sadly justified. Within three weeks Lady Asgill was dead, and on June 5th she was laid to rest in Sir Christopher Wren's beautiful church, St James's Piccadilly, within a few yards of her husband's house in York Street." Like Charles Asgill, Lynedoch had also been at her bedside when she died.^[113]

The final two years of Asgill's life were spent at the home of his mistress, Mary Ann Goodchild, otherwise Mansel^[114]—who was also mistress to General Robert Manners—at 15 Park Place South, near The Man in the Moon, Chelsea.^[115] Two codicils to his will were written and signed there shortly before his death.^[116] Asgill died on 23 July 1823, and was buried with his wife in the vault at St James's Church, Piccadilly on 1 August. Upon his death, the Asgill baronetcy became extinct. Most biographies claim he died without issue, but the 1825 edition of A New Biographical Dictionary of 3000 Cotemporary Public Characters states Sophia bore him children.^[117]

Because St. James's Church was damaged in the Blitz of London on 14 October 1940, it is not known whether the coffins of Sir Charles and Lady Asgill survived the damage to the church.^[118] After the war ended, specialist contractors, Rattee and Kett, of Cambridge, under the supervision of Messrs. W. F. Heslop and F. Brigmore, undertook restoration work, which was completed in 1954.^[119]

The Lady Olivia character in the 1806 novel Leonora by Maria Edgeworth was rumoured to have been based on Lady Asgill, portraying her as a "coquette".^[120][121] Lady Asgill herself maintained a two-decades long secret correspondence with Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch.^[114] The two had agreed to destroy each other's correspondence, but one letter written by Sophia survived^[122] as Lynedoch did not destroy them all. ^[123] She kept his letters, which were discovered amongst her possessions after her death.^[124] A graphite drawing of Lady Asgill's setter dog was created at the Lynedoch Estate in Scotland by Charles Loraine Smith.^[125]

During the months leading up to Asgill's death in 1823, he was the victim of fraud. "The Swindler Asgill" was touring southern England persuading his victims to send the bill for his luxury purchases to his "uncle", Sir Charles Asgill.^[126] He was never caught, but the Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier of Saturday 13 September 1823 states: "There is good reason to believe that the real name of 'Mr Asgill' has been discovered, and that it is not altogether unknown to fame in the annals of police: but for obvious reasons, we omit it for the present". The Swindler perpetuated his lies, through his children, so that the present-day generation believed themselves to be descendants of Asgill's "disinherited son", William Charles Asgill. Even his obituary, in the Blackburn Standard of Wednesday 22 February 1854, declared that he was the "second son of the late Charles Asgill" – stating the latter was "of Regents Park". General Sir Charles Asgill had no legitimate children and never had an address in Regents Park.^[127]

Images[]

Depictions of Asgill include:

• The Thomas Phillips RA portrait of Charles Asgill, painted in 1822 and exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts London that year, is listed in the National Portrait Gallery, London catalogue for the 1822 exhibition, and is recorded as: 107 Portrait of Gen. Sir Charles Asgill, Bart. G.C.G.O. T Phillips. R.A.

By 1821 Asgill had sold his London home, so he wrote, from his Pall Mall club, to his tailor (name and location omitted). He said that he was "writing in haste" to confirm an appointment to attend the tailor's premises "next Wednesday at Eleven". While all that he gives by way of a date is that the letter was written on Saturday 9 February, with no year included, the 9th fell on a Saturday in 1822, the year he had his portrait painted by Thomas Phillips. He wrote: "Pall Mall, Saturday 9 Feb, Dear Sir - I beg leave to enclose a Draft for the advance you requested --- I will be much obliged to you if you will have the goodness to return to me my Uniform as soon as you possibly can, as it has become very much tarnished, & will be spoilt unless it is carefully wrapped up, & excluded from the Air ---".^[128]

Asgill bequeathed the Thomas Phillips portrait to his brother-in-law Sir Charles Ogle, 2nd Baronet for his family, in perpetuity. "And I give to the said Sir Charles Ogle, for his, my portrait painted by Phillips, and at his decease I give and bequeath the same portrait to his son Chaloner Ogle, requesting it may be preserved and retained in his family."^[129] After Asgill's death Ogle wrote to the artist to ask if he could take possession and whether he was still due payment.^[130]

Sir Charles Ogle requests Mr Philips will have the goodness to deliver the picture of the late Sir Charles Asgill to the bearer Mr Goslett - If Mr Philips has any demand on Sir Charles Asgill, he is requested to send it to Mr Domville, [at] No. 6 Lincolns Inn. 42 Berkeley Sq, Oct 23 1823.

At the time of his death Ogle had disinherited his eldest son, Chaloner, 1803–1859 (who died less than a year after his father)^[131]

• Charles Asgill as a Captain in the First Foot Guards, held at the Library of Congress^[132]
• General Sir Charles Asgill. Mezzotint by Charles Turner, 1822 (c), after Thomas Phillips, held at the National Army Museum, London^[133]
• Sadler’s cartoon image of Uniform of the British Army in 1820. Four military officers in different regimental uniforms. Inscribed in ink above their heads are their names or rank: Col. Perry 16th Lancers; A Regimental Doctor 70th Reg. The 70th called the "Black Dogs"; An officer of the Green Horse, 5th Dragoon; Sir Charles Asgill – Col. of the 11th.^[134]

See also[]

• Robert Taylor
• 2nd Canadian Regiment
• Ogle Baronets

Footnotes[]

References[]

Further reading[]

• Ammundsen, Anne (June 2021). "'Truth will ultimately prevail where pains is taken to bring it to light' - George Washington". Metropolitan: The Journal of the London Westminster & Middlesex Family History Society. 7 (3 (170)): 124–130. ISSN 1359-8961.
• Belonzi, Joan, (1970) The Asgill Affair. Seton Hall University.
• Billardon de Sauvigny, Louis-Edme, (1785) Dramatization of the Asgill Affair, thinly reset as Abdir Study of critical biography. Paris.
• D'Aubigny, Washington or the Orphan of Pennsylvania, melodrama in three acts by one of the authors of The Thieving Magpie, with music and ballet, shown for the first time, at Paris, in the Ambigu-Comique theatre, 13 July 1815.
• De Comberousse, Benoit Michel (1795) Asgill, or the English Prisoner, a drama in five acts and verse. Comberousse, a member of the College of Arts, wrote this play in 1795. The drama, in which Washington's son plays a ridiculous role, was not performed in any theatre.
• De Lacoste, Henri (1813) Washington, Or The Reprisal A Factual Drama, a play in three acts, in prose, staged for the first time in Paris at the Théâtre de l'Impératrice, on 5 January 1813. (In this play Asgill falls in love with Betty Penn, the daughter of a Pennsylvanian Quaker, who supports him through his ordeal awaiting death).
• De Vivetieres, Marsollier (1793) music by Dalayrac, nl:Nicolas-Marie Dalayrac Asgill or The Prisoner of war – one act melodrama and prose, performed at the Opera-Comique for the first time on Thursday, 2 May 1793.
• Duke, Claire A., History 586, "To Save the Innocent, I Demand the Guilty": The Huddy-Asgill Affair, 12 May 2017, Kansas State University
• Graham, James J., (1862) Memoir of General Graham with notices of the campaigns in which he was engaged from 1779 to 1801, Edinburgh: R&R Clark, pp. 91–92.
• Haffner, Gerald O., (1957) "Captain Charles Asgill, An Incident of 1782," History Today, vol. 7, no. 5.
• Humphreys, David, (1859) The Conduct of General Washington Respecting The Confinement of Capt. Asgill Placed in Its True Point of Light. New York: Printed for the Holland Club.
• Jones, T. Cole, Captives of Liberty, Prisoners of War and the Politics of Vengeance in the American Revolution 2019 | ISBN 9780812251692
• Lambe, John Lawrence, (1911) Experiments in Play Writing, in Verse and Prose. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, p. 252. (Section entitled An English Gentleman, the story of The Asgill Affair retold, in which Asgill declares his love for Virginia Huddy, Captain Joshua Huddy's daughter).
• Leveson-Gower, Granville. (1916) Private Correspondence 1781-1821 edited by his Daughter-in-Law Castalia Countess Granville in two volumes
• Melbourne, Lady Elizabeth Milbanke Lamb (1998) Byron's "Corbeau Blanc" The Life and Letters of Lady Melbourne Edited by Jonathan David Gross. p. 412, ISBN 978-0853236337
• McHugh, Rodger, (1998) Voice of Rebellion: Carlow in 1798 – The Autobiography of William Farrell. Introduction by Patrick Bergin. Dublin: Wolfhound Press.—First published in 1949 as Carlow in '98.
• Pakenham, Thomas, (1969) The Year of Liberty: The Great Irish Rebellion of 1798. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
• Pierce, Arthur D., (1960) Smugglers' Woods: Jaunts and Journeys in Colonial and Revolutionary New Jersey. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
• Shelley, Frances, (1969) The Diary of Frances Lady Shelley 1787–1817. Hodder and Stoughton.
• Smith, Jayne E, (2007) Vicarious atonement: revolutionary justice and the Asgill case. New Mexico State University.
• Tombs, Robert and Tombs, Isabelle, (2006) That Sweet Enemy: The British and the French from the Sun King to the Present. London: William Heinemann.

External links[]

• Georgian Newspaper Project listing all mention of the Asgill family in the Bath Chronicle.
• "Documents of the American Revolution: Joshua Huddy Era," Monmouth County Archives, Monmouth County, New Jersey. www.co.monmouth.nj.us/ —Catalog of an exhibition at Monmouth Country Library Headquarters, October 2004
• C-Span 3 American History TV. Philadelphia - Museum of the American Revolution. Talk by Professor Gregory Urwin, of Temple University, Doylestown on 4 October 2019
• The Asgill Affair - The Random Execution That Almost Reignited the Revolutionary War by Jason Mandresh, on 25 May 2020
• Peter Henriques and C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb talk about Henriques's book, First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington vis-a-vis his chapter on the Asgill Affair, on 18 November 2020
• Talk on the Asgill Affair by Peter Henriques, Prince William Public Libraries, on 8 December 2020
• A Portrait of Washington's Greatness—and His Limitations In the National Review by Michael Knox Beran, 7 January 2021