Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix = General

| honorific_suffix = Bt

| name = Sir Charles Asgill

| residence = 29 Old Burlington Street, London (1778–1785). 6 York Street, St. James's (1791–1821)

| other_names =

| image = File:Asgill-Charles-color.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Colourised image of Asgill from a mezzotint of lost original by Thomas Phillips

| birth_name =

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1762|4|6|df=y}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|1823|7|23|1762|4|6|df=y}}

| death_place = London, England

| death_cause =

| known =

| alma_mater = Westminster School
University of Göttingen

| allegiance = {{flag|Kingdom of Great Britain}} (pre Acts of Union 1800)
{{flagcountry|UKGBI}} (post Acts of Union 1800)

| branch = {{army|UK}}

| serviceyears = 1778–1823

| rank = General

| battles = American War of Independence (1775–1783)
Flanders campaign (1792–1795)
Irish Rebellion of 1798

Irish Rebellion of 1803

| title =

| party = Whig

| boards =

| spouse = Jemima Sophia Ogle

| Relatives =

| children =

| relations = Sir Charles Asgill, 1st Baronet and Sarah Theresa Pratviel.

| signature = Asgill-Charles-sig.jpg

}}

General Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCH}} (6 April 1762 – 23 July 1823) was a career soldier in the British Army. At the end of the American Revolutionary War he became the principal of the so-called Asgill Affair of 1782, in which his retaliatory death sentence 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 Flanders campaign, 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

Charles Asgill was born on 6 April 1762,{{Cite ODNB|first=Charles|last=Asgill|title=second baronet (1762–1823)|id=9780198614128-e-733}} as the only son of a well-connected family. His father, Sir Charles Asgill, had been a former Lord Mayor of London,{{sfn|Henriques|2020|loc=pp. 68-74}} and was a London banker. His mother, Sarah Theresa Pratviel, was of a French Huguenot family,{{sfn|Henriques|2020|loc=p. 68}} whose father was secretary to the ambassador to Spain. The family home was Richmond Place, now known as Asgill House, in Surrey.{{National Heritage List for England |num=1180412 |desc=Asgill House |access-date=24 May 2015}} Asgill was educated at Westminster School and the University of Göttingen.{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21636606-many-his-successors-americas-first-president-wrestled-ethics-war |title=Perfidious America |date=20 December 2014 |magazine=The Economist |pages=64–66|access-date=3 September 2019}}

File:Charles Asgill autograph book 1778.jpg

Against his father's wishes, who offered a sizeable annual income to stay in England,{{sfn|Mayo|1938|loc=p. 164}} Asgill 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. Asgill became lieutenant in the First Foot Guards, promoted to the rank of captain, in February 1781.

The Asgill Affair

=Prisoner of war=

Asgill was ordered to North America at the beginning of 1781, to fight in the American Revolutionary War. Serving under General Cornwallis,{{sfn|Mayo|1938|loc=p. 164}} he fought in the Siege of Yorktown, and became an American prisoner of war following Cornwallis's capitulation in October 1781.

Even after the capitulation at Yorktown, violence persisted between the patriots and loyalists. When a loyalist named Philip White was killed by patriots,{{cite web |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08308 |title=To George Washington from Not Assigned, 1 May 1782 (Early Access Document) |date=1 May 1782

|series=The Papers of George Washington|publisher=Founders Online |archive-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605174649/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08308 |url-status=live |quote=Philip White Taken lately at {{sic|Shrewsbu|rry}} in Action...The Dragoons told him they would give him a chance for his Life, and ordered him to Run—which he attempted but had not gone thirty yards from them before they Shot him.}}{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21636606-many-his-successors-americas-first-president-wrestled-ethics-war |title=Perfidious America |date=20 December 2014 |magazine=The Economist |pages=64–66|access-date=3 September 2019|quote=Accounts of his death differ: his brother Aaron, captured with him, signed an affidavit attesting that he was killed while trying to escape. Aaron later recanted, claiming that his captors had threatened to kill him unless he signed; the truth, he now maintained, was that the American militiamen had executed Philip White in cold blood.}} the loyalists retaliated. A captain of the Monmouth Militia and privateer, Joshua Huddy, was captured in the village of Toms River, New Jersey and taken to a prison in New York. Under the auspices of a prisoner exchange, Richard Lippincott took Huddy from British custody and had him hanged, by order of William Franklin.{{sfn|Chernow|2010|loc=p. 426}}{{cite journal|url=https://www.historynet.com/ben-franklins-tory-bastard.htm|title=Ben Franklin's Tory Bastard|first=Thomas B.|last=Allen|journal=Military History|year=2014|volume=30|issue=5|pages=34–41}} New Jersey militia protested; to avoid further outbreaks of violence George Washington ordered Moses Hazen to select by lot a British officer likewise to be executed.{{cite web|url=https://www.masshist.org/object-of-the-month/objects/general-washington-s-terrible-dilemma-2007-10-01|title=General Washington's terrible dilemma|publisher= Massachusetts Historical Society|access-date=21 August 2019}} His explicit orders were communicated in letters dated 3 and 18 May 1782.{{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08319|title=From George Washington to Moses Hazen, 3 May 1782 (Early Access Document) |first=George|last=Washington|date=3 May 1782|series=The Papers of George Washington|publisher=Founders Online|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=18 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818052212/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08319 |url-status=live |quote=You will therefore immediately on recet of this designate by Lot for the above purpose—a British Captain who is an unconditional Prisoner, if such a one is in our possession—if not—a Lieutenant under the same circumstances...}}{{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08451|title=From George Washington to Moses Hazen, 18 May 1782 (Early Access Document)|first=George|last=Washington|date=18 May 1782|series=The Papers of George Washington|publisher=Founders Online|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=18 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818052738/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08451 |url-status=live |quote=...no one of that Description is in our power—I am therefore under the disagreeable necessity to Direct, that you {{sic|imedia|tely}} select, in the Manner before presented, from among all the British Captains...}}

On reading the letter of 18 May, James Gordon replied to Washington:

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...{{sfn|Vanderpoel|1921|loc=p. 422}}

Hazen carried out Washington's orders on 27 May 1782. The selection was made at the Black Bear Tavern in Lancaster,{{cite web|url=https://www.lancasterhistory.org/product/saving-captain-asgill/|title=The Journal of Lancaster County's Historical Society Vol. 120, No. 3 Winter 2019}} where 13 British 'conditional' officers were assembled. Hazen hoped that the officers would make the selection themselves, but they refused, with one of the prisoners, Samuel Graham, writing that "With one voice we refused to have any share in a business which directly violated the terms of the treaty which placed us within General Washington's power".{{cite journal|title="Unfortunate": Lancaster, Pennsylvania, May 26–28, 1782|first=Martha|last=Abel|journal=The Journal of Lancaster County's Historical Society|volume=120|issue=3|year=2019|pages=97–106}} Lots were instead drawn by a drummer boy (some sources suggest that there were two or three drummer boys) and Asgill's was the one drawn alongside the word "unfortunate".{{cite journal|url=https://www.historynet.com/washington-came-thisclose-to-executing-an-innocent-man.htm|title=Washington Came This Close to Executing an Innocent Man|first=Peter R.|last=Henriques|journal=American History|date=19 November 2019|access-date=25 February 2020}}

According to William M. Fowler, as soon as Washington had given the order to take a hostage, he realised that what he had done was morally suspect and likely illegal. While Congress endorsed Washington's actions, others disagreed and Alexander Hamilton considered them "repugnant, wanton and unnecessary".{{cite book|title=American Crisis: George Washington and the Dangerous Two Years after Yorktown, 1781-1783|first=William M.|last=Fowler|year=2011|location=New York|publisher=Walker & Company|isbn=9780802717061|page=67}}

Soon afterwards Washington wrote to Hazen about Asgill's selection, asking why apparently available 'unconditional' prisoners were not chosen and suggesting to "remedy [...] as soon as possible this Mistake".{{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08600|title=From George Washington to Moses Hazen, 4 June 1782 (Early Access Document) |first=George|last=Washington|date=4 June 1782|series=The Papers of George Washington|publisher=Founders Online|access-date=19 February 2021|archive-date=13 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213123338/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08600 |url-status=live |quote=I have received your fav^r of the 27th May—and am much concerned to find that Capt. Asgill has been sent on notwithstanding...To remedy therefore as soon as possible this Mistake...}}

=Chatham=

File:Day tavern.jpg

From Lancaster Asgill was transferred to Chatham. Initially he was housed in the home of Colonel Elias Dayton, who commanded the Jersey Line, who treated Asgill well, especially when he became too ill to be moved.{{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08719|title=From Elias Dayton to George Washington, 18 June 1782 (Early Access Document) |first=George|last=Washington|date=18 June 1782|series=The Papers of George Washington|publisher=Founders Online|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=27 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927052704/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08719 |url-status=live |quote=—Presuming therefore on your {{sic|Excelle|ncys}} lenity, and that his safety was the only object, I have for the present confined him a close prisoner at my own quarters where he will be in perfect security until farther orders.}} Washington ordered Asgill be held under guard.{{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08661|title=From George Washington to Elias Dayton, 11 June 1782 (Early Access Document) |first=George|last=Washington|date=11 June 1782|series=The Papers of George Washington|publisher=Founders Online|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=15 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215005533/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08661 |url-status=live |quote=I am informed that Capt. Asgill is at Chatham, without Guard, & under no constraint—This if true is certainly wrong—I wish to have the young Gentleman treated with all the Tenderness possible, consistent with his present Situation—But {{sic|unti|ll}} his Fate is determined, he must be considered as a close prisoner & be kept in the greatest Security...}} He was sent to Timothy Day's Tavern, where he suffered beatings; lack of edible food; spectators paid to watch his suffering; and deprivation of letters from his family about which he was receiving information that his father was very ill and had died.{{cite journal|title='A Prison...Was Denied Me' Chatham, New Jersey, May–November, 1782|first=Michael|last=Abel|journal=The Journal of Lancaster County's Historical Society|volume=120|issue=3|year=2019|pages=107–110|oclc=2297909}} Although the British court martialled Lippincott for Huddy's execution, he was found not guilty on the grounds that he was acting on orders from William Franklin.{{sfn|Chernow|2010|loc=p. 426}} Washington wanted Lippincott be released to the Americans in exchange for Asgill, but was refused.{{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08216|title=From George Washington to Henry Clinton, 21 April 1782 (Early Access Document) |first=George|last=Washington|date=21 April 1782|series=The Papers of George Washington|publisher=Founders Online|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=6 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606183447/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08216 |url-status=live |quote=To save the innocent, I demand the guilty—Captain {{sic|Lippi|ngcot}}, therefore or the officer who commanded at the execution of Captain Huddy must be given up; or, if that Officer was of inferior rank to him, so many of the perpetrators, as will, according to the Tariff of Exchange be an Equivalent.}}

During the months of Asgill's confinement, his fate drew considerable international public attention and also the direct intervention of the government of France on Asgill's behalf. Under pressure to spare Asgill, but unwilling to publicly back down from his position, Washington decided late that summer that the case had become "a great national concern, upon which an individual ought not to decide." He therefore sent the matter to be decided by the Continental Congress.

=Reaction and release=

When Asgill's mother, Sarah Theresa, Lady Asgill, heard about her son's fate, she turned to ministers in Whitehall{{cite archive|item=Letter from Sir Thomas Townshend, to Sir Guy Carleton, 10 July 1782|institution=The National Archives|collection=Records of the Colonial Office, Commonwealth and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices, Empire Marketing Board, and related bodies relating to the administration of Britain's colonies|box=CO 5/106/019|access-date=15 January 2021|item-url=https://www.colonialamerica.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/SearchDetails/CO_5_106_019}} and King George III became involved.{{cite journal|first=Gerald|last=Haffner|title=Captain Charles Asgill: An Anglo-American Incident, 1782|journal=History Today|volume=7|issue=5|date=May 1957|url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/captain-charles-asgill-anglo-american-incident-1782}}{{cite archive|item=Letter from Sir Thomas Townshend, to Sir Guy Carleton, 14 August 1782|institution=The National Archives|collection=Records of the Colonial Office, Commonwealth and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices, Empire Marketing Board, and related bodies relating to the administration of Britain's colonies|box=CO5/106/021|access-date=15 January 2021|item-url=https://www.colonialamerica.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/SearchDetails/CO_5_106_021}} She then wrote a letter to the comte de Vergennes, the French Foreign Minister. Vergennes showed the 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.{{sfn|Mayo|1938|loc=p. 242}}

Upon receipt of Vergennes' letter, enclosing that of Lady Asgill, Washington forwarded the correspondence to the Continental Congress, on 30 October as they were proposing to vote to hang Asgill. The letter was read aloud before the delegates.{{cite journal|title=Sensibility and the American War for Independence|first=Sarah|last=Knott|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=109|issue=1|year=2004|pages=19–40|doi=10.1086/530150}} After several days of debate,{{cite news|title=Jerseyana|first=Marc|last=Mappen|work=New York Times|date=13 January 1991|department=New Jersey Weekly|page=19}} {{ProQuest|108638135}} on 7 November, "as a compliment to the King of France", Congress passed an Act releasing Asgill.{{cite book|title=Congress's Own: A Canadian Regiment, the Continental Army, and American Union|first=Holly A.|last=Mayer|location=Norman|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=2021|isbn=9780806169927|page=255}}{{cite DNB|author=Augustus Samuel Bolton|wstitle=Asgill, Charles|volume=2|page=159}}

A week later Washington wrote a letter to Asgill,{{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-09931|title=From George Washington to Charles Asgill, 13 November 1782 (Early Access Document) |first=George|last=Washington|date=13 November 1782|series=The Papers of George Washington|publisher=Founders Online|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=13 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113211630/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-09931 |url-status=live |quote=It affords me singular pleasure to have it in my power to transmit you the {{sic|inc|losed}} Copy of an Act of Congress of the 7th instant, by which you are released from the disagreeable circumstances in which you have so long been....I also {{sic|inc|lose}} a passport for that purpose...I cannot take leave of you Sir without assuring you, that in whatever light my agency in this unpleasing affair may be viewed, I was never influenced thro' the whole of it by sanguinary motives; but by what I conceived a sense of my duty...}} 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.{{sfn|Vanderpoel|1921|loc=p. 454}}

=Aftermath=

File:Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet coat of arms.jpg

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.{{cite journal|title=Saving Captain Asgill|first=Anne|last=Ammundsen|journal=The Journal of Lancaster County's Historical Society|volume=120|issue=3|year=2019|pages=111–119|oclc=2297909}} In response, Washington had his correspondence on the matter published in the New Haven Gazette and Connecticut Magazine{{cite book|title=History of New York During the Revolutionary War: And of the Leading Events in the Other Colonies at that Period, Volume 2|first=Thomas|last=Jones|year=1879|location=New York|publisher=The New York Historical Society|page=485|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ivt-AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA485}}{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sf89099211/|title=The New-Haven Gazette, and the Connecticut Magazine (New-Haven, Conn.) 1786–1789 [Microfilm Reel]|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=9 February 2021}} on 16 November 1786 (with the exception of his letter of 18 May 1782 to Hazen which shows Washington's willingness to violate Article XIV of the Yorktown Articles of Capitulation).{{cite journal|title=Appendix D: The Fateful Correspondence between Commander in Chief George Washington and Brigadier General Moses Hazen|journal=The Journal of Lancaster County's Historical Society|volume=120|issue=3|year=2019|pages=153–157|oclc=2297909}} When Asgill read the account, he wrote to the editor on 20 December 1786, denying that he had spread rumours, and detailing his mistreatment while in captivity. Asgill's letter was not published until 2019, when a copy appeared in an issue of The Journal of Lancaster County’s Historical Society dedicated to the Asgill Affair.{{cite news|url=https://lancasteronline.com/features/lancaster-history-journal-publishes--year-old-letter-about-mistreatment/article_89211fbe-3fb5-11ea-bcc0-b352274300f4.html/|first=Mary Ellen|last=Wright|title=Lancaster history journal publishes 233-year-old letter about mistreatment of British officer|work=Lancaster Online|date=26 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126211811/https://lancasteronline.com/features/lancaster-history-journal-publishes--year-old-letter-about-mistreatment/article_89211fbe-3fb5-11ea-bcc0-b352274300f4.html/|archive-date=26 January 2020|access-date=26 January 2020}}

Peter Henriques writes that the Asgill Affair "could have left an ugly blot on George Washington's reputation", calling it "a blip that reminds us even the greatest of men make mistakes".{{sfn|Henriques|2020|loc=p. 76}}

Subsequent career

File:Portrait of Frederick, Duke of York - Lawrence 1816.jpg by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1816. York appointed Asgill as an equerry.]]

Asgill was appointed equerry to Frederick, Duke of York in 1788; he would hold this post until his death.Royal Kalendar for 1823, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxjfqc&view=1up&seq=135 p. 127]. On 15 September 1788 he inherited the Asgill baronetcy upon the death of his father,G. E. C., The Complete Baronetage, vol. V (1906) [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924092524416#page/n143/mode/2up pp. 120–121]. and on 3 March 1790 he was promoted to command a company in the 1st Foot Guards,{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=13180|page=137|date=2–6 March 1790}} with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.{{refn|group=n|name=ranks|The system of purchasing commissions gave rise to some idiosyncrasies in rank and posting in the prestigious Household and Guard regiments and the value of commissions in these regiments. Regimental appointments were owned by officers of higher ranks than associated with an equivalent position in a line regiment. The appointment of company commander (normally a captaincy) was held by a lieutenant-colonel and styled captain and lieutenant-colonel.{{cite web|title=British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793–1815: 1st Regiment of Foot Guards|first=Steve|last=Brown|url=https://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/Britain/Infantry/Regiments/c_1stFootGuards.html|access-date=23 October 2019}}}} Under the Duke of York he took part in the Flanders campaign in 1793.

Two years later he rose to the rank of colonel, and later that year commanded a battalion of the Guards at Warley Camp, intended for foreign service.

=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,{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=14080|page=22|date=6–9 January 1798}}{{Cite book |last=Phillippart |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gWK5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA115 |title=The Royal Military Calendar: Containing the Services of Every General Officer in the British Army, from the Date of Their Commission, with an Appendix, Containing an Account of the Operations of the Army on the Eastern Coast of Spain in 1812–13 ... |date=1815 |publisher=A.J. Valpy |language=en}} and was promoted Third Major of the 1st Foot Guards in November that year.{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=15206|page=1212|date=23–26 November 1799}}{{refn|group=n|Third major is another position peculiar to Foot Guards regiments of the time. Nominally the second-in-command of each battalion (normally a major's appointment), by seniority of battalions within the regiment (in this case, the third battalion), these positions would be owned by more senior officers.}} 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."

General Sir Charles Asgill marched from Kilkenny and attacked and dispersed the rebels.{{cite web|url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/6795|title=Emigration from the Scottish Catholic bounds 1770–1810 and the role of the clergy|page= 231|publisher=Edinburgh Research Archive|last=Toomey|first=Kathleen|year=1991}}

File:Frederica of Prussia duchess of York.jpg by John Hoppner; Sophia Asgill Lady of the Bedchamber sits at her feet.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWcPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA302|title=The Historical Magazine, Or, Classical Library of Public Events|volume=3|page=302|first=D|last=Brewman|year=1789}}]]

The city of Kilkenny presented Asgill with a snuff box for his "energy and exertion" which was praised by the Loyalists.{{cite web|url=https://www.adams.ie/searchresult?keyword=Asgill |title=Adams |publisher=Adams.ie |access-date=2019-09-09}}

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.{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=15256|page=462|date=10–13 May 1800}} He went onto half-pay when the 2nd Battalion was disbanded in 1802.{{cite web|url=http://www.regiments.org/deploy/uk/reg-inf/046-2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009050556/http://www.regiments.org/deploy/uk/reg-inf/046-2.htm |archive-date=2007-10-09 |title=2nd Battalion, 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot |publisher=regiments.com |access-date=8 October 2019}}{{cite archive|item=Statement of the Service of Lieutenant General Sir Charles Asgill Bart. Colonel of the 11th Regiment of Foot|collection=War Office and predecessors: Secretary-at-War, Secretary of State for War, and Related Bodies, Registers|box=WO 25/744 A|pages=8-12|institution=National Archives|location=Kew|item-url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4397494}} Later that year he was again appointed to the Staff in Ireland, commanding the garrison in Dublin and the instruction camps at the Curragh.

=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. Sir Charles Asgill and Lord Castlereagh took up his cause (with a Mr A. Marsden) to see that he was properly compensated.{{cite web|publisher=Federation of Local History Societies |url=https://localhistory.ie/?mdocs-file=459|title=Local History Review |volume= 18|year=2013|pages=87–90}}

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."

Asgill was promoted to lieutenant general in January 1805.{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=15770|page=47|date=8–12 January 1805}}

Asgill was appointed Colonel of the Regiment of the 5th West India Regiment (February 1806);{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=15889|page=193|date=11–15 February 1806}} of the 85th Regiment of Foot (October 1806);{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=15970|page=1422|date=28 October – 1 November 1806}} and of the 11th (North Devonshire) Regiment (25 February 1807),{{cite journal|journal=The Gentleman's Magazine|department=Obituary|title=Sir Charles Asgill, Bart.|year=1823|issue=September|pages=274–275|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Wc3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA275}}{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=16006|page=277|date=28 February – 3 March 1807}} for which he raised a second battalion in the space of six months.{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7lCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA81|title=Historical Record of the 11th Foot or North Devon Regiment of Foot|publisher=Parker, Furnivall and Parker|year=1845|page=54|first=Richard|last=Cannon}} Asgill mentions the men of the 11th in his will, in a codicil written on 15 July 1823, eight days before his death.{{cite archive|item-url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D151254|item=Will of Sir Charles Asgill of York Street Saint James's Square in the City of Westminster, Middlesex|institution=National Archives|location=Kew|collection=Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury|box=PROB 11/1674/133}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://cdn.southampton.ac.uk/assets/imported/transforms/content-block/UsefulDownloads_Download/896E981F95B646D6A0A43FC04C458D4C/WP1_Jan1809.pdf|title=Letters to the Duke|date=2 January 1809|page=104|publisher=University of Southampton|access-date=31 January 2021}}

=Retirement=

Asgill received 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."{{cite web|publisher=Georgian Papers Online, Royal Collection Trust|title=Copy of a letter from HRH Frederick Duke of York to Lieutenant General Sir Charles Asgill, 3 January 1812, and Asgill's reply to Colonel John McMahon, 11 January 1812.|url=https://gpp.rct.uk/TreeBrowse.aspxsrc=CalmView.Catalog&field=RefNo&key=GIV_CALENDAR%2F2%2F1812%2F1%2F29}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

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."{{cite web|publisher=Georgian Papers Online, Royal Collection Trust|title= Copy of a letter from HRH Frederick Duke of York to Lieutenant General Sir Charles Asgill, 3 January 1812, and Asgill's reply to Colonel John McMahon, 11 January 1812. |url=https://gpp.rct.uk/TreeBrowse.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&field=RefNo&key=GIV_CALENDAR%2F2%2F1812%2F1%2F29}}

Asgill continued to serve on the Staff until 1812, and on 4 June 1814 he was promoted to general.{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=16906|page=1180|date=7 June 1814}} In 1820 he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order.William A. Shaw, The Knights of England (1906) vol. I, [https://archive.org/stream/knightsofengland01shawuoft#page/449/mode/1up p. 449].

Personal life and death

On 28 August 1790 Asgill married Jemima Sophia (1770–1819), sixth daughter of Admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle, 1st Baronet.The New Annual Register for the Year 1790, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tCxAAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA52 p. 52]. From 1791 to 1821 Asgill lived at No. 6 York Street, off St James's Square.{{cite book |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols29-30/pt1/pp285-287#h3-0005 |title=Survey of London: Volumes 29 and 30, St James Westminster, Part 1 |year=1960 |editor-last=Sheppard |editor-first=F. H. W. |location=London |pages=285–287 |chapter=Duke of York Street}} The Asgills were associated with the duchess of Devonshire's circle.Byron’s "Corbeau Blanc" The Life and Letters of Lady Melbourne, Edited by Jonathan David Gross: Glossary of Personalities. p. 412 They enjoyed the theatre as well, frequently in the company of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, a personal friend.{{cite book |last=Sichel |first=Walter |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t4wh2gp14&view=1up&seq=436&q1=Asgill |title=From New and Original Material; Including a Manuscript Diary by Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire |publisher=Constable |year=1909 |page=386}} Lady Asgill died in York Street on 30 May 1819.The Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 89 (January–June 1819), Part I, p. 587.{{cite web |title=Lady Jemima Sophia Asgill [née Ogle] |url=https://lordbyron.org/persRec.php?&selectPerson=JeAsgil1819 |access-date=30 October 2020 |publisher=Lord Byron and his Times, with additional references}}

Asgill died in 1823. The final two years of Asgill's life were spent at the home of his mistress, Mary Ann Goodchild, otherwise Mansel.{{cite web |last1=Kingsley |first1=Nick |title=(197) Asgill of Asgill House, Richmond, baronets |url=https://landedfamilies.blogspot.com/2015/12/197-asgill-of-asgill-house-richmond.html |website=Landed families of Britain and Ireland |date=2 December 2015}} Two codicils to his will were written and signed there shortly before his death. Upon his death, the Asgill baronetcy became extinct. One source states that Sophia bore him children.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_S8rAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA65 |title=A New Biographical Dictionary, of 3000 Cotemporary Public Characters, British and Foreign, of All Ranks and Professions |date=1825 |publisher=G. B. Whittaker |language=en |pages=65–66}}

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

{{cite book|last=Chernow|first=Ron|year=2010|title=Washington: A Life|location=New York|publisher=Penguin Press|isbn=9781594202667}}
{{cite book|last=Henriques|first=Peter R.|year=2020|title=First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington|location=Charlottesville|publisher=University of Virginia Press|isbn=9780813944807}}
{{cite book|last=Mayo|first=Katherine |year=1938|title=General Washington's Dilemma|location= New York|publisher=Harcourt, Brace and Company|hdl=2027/uc1.$b61195 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b61195}}
{{cite book|last=Vanderpoel|first=Ambrose|year=1921|title=History of Chatham New Jersey|publisher=Charles Francis Press|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchatham00vand}}

External links

[https://calmview.derbyshire.gov.uk/CalmView/Overview.aspx Derbyshire Records Office hold twenty-three Asgill related records]
[https://www.family-tree.co.uk/how-to-guides/charles-asgill-setting-the-record-straight/ Charles Asgill – setting the record straight] – interview between Helen Tovey, Editor of Family Tree, and Anne Ammundsen, 7 March 2022

{{s-ttl | title=Colonel of the 85th (Bucks Volunteers) Regiment of Foot | years=1806–1807}}

{{s-ttl | title=Colonel of the 11th (the North Devonshire) Regiment of Foot | years=1807–1823}}