James Abercrombie
BIRTH
1706
Banffshire, Scotland
DEATH
April 23, 1781
Stirling, Scotland
FAMILY
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Abercrombie, James
(1706-1781)
General James Abercrombie was a British Army general and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1734 to 1754. He was commander-in-chief of forces in North America during the French and Indian War, best known for the disastrous British losses in the 1758 Battle of Carillon.
1
Places | Image | Address | GPS | Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Battle of Crooked Billet | 25 Van Horn Dr, Warminster, PA 18974 | MARKER |
DIED:
Stirling, Scotland
Apr 23, 1781
Abercrombie was promoted to captain in 1736, and by 1739 was lieutenant-governor of Stirling castle. He was re-elected MP for Banff at the 1741 British general election. In 1742, he purchased a major's commission. He was promoted to colonel in 1746 and served in the Flemish Campaign of the War of Austrian Succession. He was quartermaster general under General James St Clair at the Raid on Lorient in 1746 and was wounded at Hulst in 1747. At the 1747 British general election, he was returned unopposed as MP for Banff as an Old Whig, but stood down in 1754 in favour of Lord Braco's son, now of age.
With the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756, Abercrombie was promoted major general and ordered to America as second in command to Lord Loudoun for the upcoming campaigns against the French. Abercrombie commanded a brigade at Louisbourg in 1757 and became Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in North America after Loudoun's departure in December.