Lord jeffrey amherst biography definition wikipedia

Lord amherst 1908

Jump to the biography. Source: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Jeffery Amherst was the son of another Jeffery Amherst, a prosperous barrister whose family had lived in Kent for centuries, and Elizabeth Kerrill. At the age of 12 young Jeffery became a page in the household of Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, at Knole, his great house adjacent to Sevenoaks.

The circumstances of his early military career are somewhat obscure. It seems well established that in July Ligonier recommended Cornet Amherst to be a lieutenant in his regiment. Amherst saw his first active service as aide-de-camp to Ligonier in Germany during the War of the Austrian Succession. In the Duke of Cumberland was appointed commander-in-chief of the allied forces in Europe and made Amherst one of his aides-de-camp.

In this capacity he served in the battle of Laffeldt Belgium that year. The period of peace following the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle he spent in England, presumably with his regiment. He went to Germany in February to undertake this task, in which his functions seem to have been largely financial, but returned to England in May with part of the Hessian force as insurance against a possible French invasion.

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Soon after his return he was appointed colonel of the 15th Foot. This commission did not involve taking active command of the regiment, and he went back to Germany with the Hessian detachment in March Still responsible for the Hessians, he was present at the battle of Hastenbeck on 26 July when the Duke of Cumberland was defeated by the French.

In October Ligonier succeeded Cumberland as commander-in-chief, an office which gave him, under the crown, command of the forces in Britain and a degree of direction over those in America, extending to the nomination of commanders. The appointment to command the Louisbourg expedition was remarkable, not merely because Amherst was very junior in the army, but because so far as one can see all his operational experience had been on the staff; he had never commanded troops in action.