Joseph Wightman (general)
Joseph Wightman | |
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Major-General | |
Battles/wars |
Joseph Wightman was a British Army officer who is best noted for his role in the suppression of the 1715 and 1719 Jacobite rebellions. Wightman also participated in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession.
Early life
Wightman began his military career in 1690 when he was commissioned as Ensign in the First Foot Guards to Lt-Colonel Fraser Wheeler. 'Ensign' was the lowest officer rank, equivalent to a modern Second-Lieutenant; however, commissions held in the Foot Guards were senior to those other regiments i.e. a Guards Lieutenant would rank as a Captain elsewhere. This mattered in a world where rank and structure were extremely important in both civilian and military life; it also suggests Wightman came from an influential family.
Nine Years' War
This section may primarily relate to a particular aspect rather than the subject as a whole. . (April 2022) |
The Foot Guards were in Flanders during the Nine Years' War and in July 1693 fought in the Battle of Landen.[1] This was an Allied defeat with heavy casualties for those involved and on 7 August Wightman was promoted to Lieutenant with additional rank of Capt. 7 Aug. 1693 to Lt-Colonel Hobson Capt. with rank of Lt.-Col. 8 Dec. 1696. Brevet-Col. 26 Aug. 1703. Appointed Col. of Col. Holcroft Blood's late Regt. of Foot (17 Foot) 20 Aug. 1707. Brigdr.-Genl. same year In May 1695 the regiment was in the operation in West Flanders and the covering army under the Prince of Vaudemont. On 11 August it then arrived to participate in the siege of the citadel of Namur. On 30 August it participated in a very bloody assault on Terra Nova in which Colonel Courthorpe was killed and Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Bridges was severely wounded. Sir Matthew Bridges then became colonel of the regiment and the regiment wintered in Brugge. In 1696 the Bridges regiment was again under the Prince de Vaudemont, but nothing particular happened. In 1697 it was part of the main force and after the peace it retired to England and later Ireland.
Bridges regiment survived the demobilisation that followed
Jacobite risings
When the
Notes
- ^ At the time, England, Scotland and Ireland were separate countries with their own Parliaments and armies.
References
- ISBN 0719089964.
- ^ Jaques p.398
Bibliography
- Tony Jaques. Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: F-O. Greenwood Publishing, 2017.
- Jonathan Oates. The Last Battle on English Soil, Preston 1715. Routledge, 2016.
- Stuart Reid. Sheriffmuir 1715. Frontline Books, 2014.