John Burgoyne

"Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne

John Burgoyne , also called Gentleman Johnny , (born February 24, 1722 in Bedfordshire , England , † June 4, 1792 in London ) was a British general and writer .

Life

Burgoyne was the son of Captain John Burgoyne and his wife Anna Maria Burnestone. Burgoyne spent his school days at Westminster School , where he enjoyed an exceptionally varied education. There he befriended Lord Strange , a son of Sir Edward Stanley, 11th Earl of Derby .

As an ensign, Burgoyne joined the army ( 13th Dragoons ) at the age of 18 in 1740 and was able to buy a position as a lieutenant the following year . In 1743 he secretly married Lady Charlotte Stanley, a sister of his school friend Lord Strange. After her death he had an illegitimate son, the opera singer Susan Caulfield, who would later become Field Marshal John Fox Burgoyne .

His father-in-law offered the bride a small dowry, but disinherited it because he did not agree to the marriage. With this dowry Burgoyne got a position as captain; But through this purchase he got into debt to such an extent that he had to sell this office again four years later. With the proceeds he was able to pay off the most urgent debts; then he settled in France with his wife.

During this time Burgoyne traveled through almost all European countries and learned about the possibilities of the war effort of light mounted troops, which were unknown in the British army. Burgoyne was enthusiastic about it and developed a plan to introduce this type of force in Great Britain as well. After some persuasion, the first such regiment (the 16th Light Dragoons ) was set up in 1759 .

As early as 1756 Burgoyne had reconciled with his father-in-law. This got him through his mediation a position as captain with the 11th Dragoons . The following year, Burgoyne moved to the Coldstream Guards , where he served as a lieutenant colonel. During the Seven Years' War Burgoyne took part in the 1758 campaigns to Cherbourg and 1759 to Saint-Malo . In late 1759 he was transferred to the 16th Light Dragoons as a colonel .

After Burgoyne was elected to the British House of Commons as MP from Midhurst (West Sussex) in 1761 , he only dealt with questions of foreign policy for a time. In 1762, Burgoyne was commissioned to go to Portugal with a contingent to support the country in the so-called “ Fantastic War ” (Guerra Fantástica) against Spain . Here he served under Count Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst zu Schaumburg-Lippe and, in the rank of brigadier general, played a key role in the conquest of several cities.

Since the beginning of the 1760s Burgoyne had devoted himself to a few literary attempts on the side. After his return from Portugal he achieved a first notable success in early 1775 with the debut of his play Maid of the oaks ; u. a. the famous actor David Garrick took part in the premiere.

When the American War of Independence broke out , Burgoyne was sent to Boston , where he was not given direct command. Several letters have survived from this period in which he Sometimes very critical of the shortcomings of officers and crew. Burgoyne directed a pamphlet to the rebels , which caused a sensation both in the colony and in the mother country because of its exalted language. The writer Horace Walpole therefore referred to Burgoyne as Pomposo and Hurlothrumbo .

In November 1775 Burgoyne traveled to London in order - albeit in vain - to receive its own independent command. It was not until March 1776 that he was given command of troops that he was supposed to bring to Québec to reinforce Guy Carleton's army , as the latter was besieged by rebels under the command of Benedict Arnold . The first ships landed with the troops in May, Burgoyne did not arrive with the last ship until the end of June.

General Burgoyne's surrender. Painting by John Trumbull .

As the rebels retreated towards Lake Champlain , they pursued British forces under the command of Carleton, of whom Burgoyne was now deputy. Burgoyne captured Fort Ticonderoga in the last battle of Ticonderoga , but this success became useless after the defeat in the Battle of Saratoga on October 17, 1777, when he and his entire army had to surrender to the superior forces of General Horatio Gates and the winter Spent 1777/78 with his entire staff in captivity in Boston. Burgoyne was then removed from office and returned to Great Britain in the spring of 1778.

Dropped by the government, Burgoyne joined the Whigs . Again and again exposed to hostility, Burgoyne published his memorandum State of the expedition from Canada in 1780 as an attempt at a defense. When the Whigs returned to government in 1782, he was again Commander-in-Chief, this time in Ireland . However, he lost this office again in 1783.

After his wife died in 1776, he had four children with his mistress Susan Caulfield, whom he never recognized. Burgoyne politically supported the opposition of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger . His last major public appearance was in 1787 in the public indictment of the Governor General of British East India , Warren Hastings .

General John Burgoyne died in London on June 4, 1792 at the age of 70 and was buried in Westminster Abbey on August 13 .

Works (selection)

Non-fiction

• Thoughts for conducting the war from the side of Canada . 1777
• State of the expedition from Canada 1780

Fiction

• Maid of the oaks . London 1775
• The heiress. A comedy . 1786

literature

• Hans Graf: The dramatic works of General John Burgoyne . Fischer-Lehmann, Bern 1915
• Richard J. Hargrove: General John Burgoyne . University Press, Newark, NJ 1983, ISBN 0-87413-200-2
• James D. Lunt: John Burgoyne of Saratoga . Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, London 1975
• Laurin Paine: Gentleman Johnny. The life of General John Burgoyne . Hale, London 1973
• Burgoyne, John . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 4 : Bishārīn - Calgary . London 1910, p. 819 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
• John Burgoyne . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).

Web links

• Literature by and about John Burgoyne in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ TA Heathcote: The British Field Marshals 1736-1997 . 1999, ISBN 0-85052-696-5 , p. 60