Lt-General Sir Ralph Abercromby KB

Abercromby (also spelt Abercrombie) was born in Menstrie, Clackmannanshire on 7th Oct 1734. He was well educated at Rugby and Edinburgh University, destined for a career in Law which he studied in Leipzig. However he decided on a military career and in 1756 he entered the 3rd Dragoon Guards as a cornet. He went to the continent with them during the Seven Years war, and reached the rank of Lt-Colonel by 1773. He did not fight in North America as he had sympathy with the colonists, and he retired from the army in 1783.
When the French Revolutionary War started he resumed his military career and went to the Netherlands in 1793 to fight at Le Cateau and Nijmgan where he was wounded. He organised the retreat from Holland and in 1795 was made Knight of the Bath for his service. The next year he went to the West Indies as Commander-in-Chief. He captured Grenada, Demerera, Essequibo, St Lucia, St Vincent and Trinidad. It was on Trinidad that he became the first governor in Feb 1797. Later that year he made a prolonged and unsuccessful attack on Peurto Rico.
When he returned to the UK he was made C-in-C Ireland where he struggled to enforce discipline and raise morale amongst the troops, but he was thwarted in his efforts to organise the army by petty officials and politicians, so that he resigned in 1798. His last expedition was to Egypt where his greatest victory took place at Aboukir Bay. However, the follow-up battle at Alexandra on 21st March 1801 was to be his last. He was struck by a spent bullet which could not be extracted. He died on HMS Foudroyant on 28th March 1801.
He was MP for Clackmannanshire & Kinross-shire from 1774-1780 and 1796-1798, and Colonel of the following regiments:
69th Foot 19th July 1790 - 25th April 1792
6th Foot 26th April 1792 - 4th Nov 1795
7th Dragoon Guards 5th Nov 1795 - 2nd Nov 1796
2nd Dragoons (Scots Greys) 2nd Nov 1796 - 28th Mar 1801

Colonels | Regimental details