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UK / China: Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough (1779-1869), 1851

UK / China: Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough (1779-1869), 1851

Field Marshal Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough KP, GCSI, KCB, PC (3 November 1779 – 2 March 1869), was a British Army officer. He was said to have commanded in more general actions than any other British officer of the 19th century except the Duke of Wellington.

Born at Woodstown House, County Limerick, he was the son of Lieut.-Colonel George Gough (1750–1836) of Woodstown House, Deputy-Governor of County Limerick, and his wife Letitia Bunbury, daughter of Thomas Bunbury of Lisnevagh House and Moyle, Co. Carlow. He was a member of an old Anglo-Irish family long settled in County Limerick since the early 17th century.

He served in South Africa, the West Indies, Surinam, the Peninsular War and India before being appointed commander-in-chief of the British forces in China during the First Opium War (1839-1842).

After the conclusion of the Treaty of Nanking in August 1842 the British forces were withdrawn, and before the close of the year Gough, who had been made a GCB in the previous year for his services in the capture of the Canton forts, was created a baronet on 23 December 1842. In August 1843 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the British forces in India.

Subsequently raised to the viscountcy as Viscount Gough, he went on to fight in the Crimea before retiring to Ireland. Mount Gough on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong is named after him.

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