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 a period of great excitement, until 1826. He then again retired on half-pay. While in command he revived the ‘regimental order of merit’ established by George III in 1785. It was afterwards discontinued on the introduction in the army of good conduct medals (, Cat. of Medals). When not in regimental employment Gough's time was chiefly passed on his estate in Tipperary. He was a magistrate for the counties of Cork, Limerick, and Tipperary, and his genial and courteous manners made him a favourite with the gentry with whom he had to act, and to a great extent won the confidence and respect of the peasantry (, Compendium of Irish Biog.)

Gough became a major-general in 1830, was made K.C.B. in 1831, and in 1837 appointed to command the Mysore division of the Madras army. At the conclusion of the first period of the first China war, when the faithlessness of the Chinese commissioners became manifest, Gough was sent from Madras to assume command of the troops at Canton. He arrived on 2 March 1841 (, ii. 438). The forts defending Canton were carried and occupied on 26–7 May 1841. For these services Gough was made G.C.B. After the arrival of Admiral Sir William Parker in the following July, Gough commanded the troops in the combined operations which ended with the capture of the great fortified city of Ching-keang-foo and the signing of the treaty of peace at Nanking in 1842. For his share in the work Gough was created a baronet, and received the thanks of parliament and of the East India Company. He returned to Madras, having been made presidency commander-in-chief 16 June 1841, and on 11 Aug. 1843 was appointed commander-in-chief in India.

Soon after his arrival in Bengal Gough assumed command of the so-called ‘army of exercise’ assembled at Agra in view of difficulties respecting the Gwalior succession. The army entered that state, and a firm government was established in the fortress-city, but the measure was unpalatable to the Mahratta army. A collision with the latter appearing inevitable, it was attacked and routed by Gough with a wing of the army at Maharajpore on 29 Dec. 1843, suffering heavy loss. On the same day the rest of the Mahratta forces were defeated by Major-general John Grey's division at Punniar. Gough again received the thanks of parliament. Lord Ellenborough, then governor-general, appears to have doubted Gough's fitness for the command. In a letter to the Duke of Wellington on 20 April 1844, just before his own removal, he alleges that Gough, ‘despite his many excellent qualities, had not the grasp of mind and the prudence essential to conduct great military operations’ (Hist. Indian Administration, p. 435). The public has never possessed the materials for an impartial judgment of the difficulties—administrative and other—of Gough's Indian command. On 11 Dec. 1845 occurred the irruption of the Sikh hosts into India in time of peace, which resulted in the first Sikh war. Moving forward a distance of 150 miles with an unprepared force, Gough, loyally supported by Hardinge, the new governor-general, who placed himself under Gough's orders as second in command, defeated the invaders, by dint of sheer hard fighting, at Mudki, Ferozshah, and Sobraon, and was able to dictate terms to the Sikh durbar in Lahore within three months after the first alarm. He was then raised to the peerage as Baron Gough of Ching-keang-foo, China, Maharajpore, and the Sutlej in the East Indies. Three years later the newly annexed Punjaub was in revolt, and the second Sikh war began. Moving forward with all the energy of a younger man to prevent the junction of the Sikh leaders, Gough defeated the enemy at Ramnuggar, and again on 13 Jan. 1849 at Chillianwallah. This was not, as has sometimes been asserted, a drawn battle, but a victory. The losses were very severe, but the effect of the blow to the enemy was visible at Goojerat, and contributed materially to the rapid destruction of the Sikh power. The severe loss was due to failure on the part of a subordinate officer, but Gough's generous nature made him bear the newspaper attacks without a word of self-justification. When the news reached home, an unreasoning clamour arose against the commander-in-chief and his ‘Tipperary tactics.’ Sir Charles Napier was sent out to supersede him; but before the change could take place Gough had re-established his reputation by his crushing defeat of the Sikh armies at Goojerat on 21 Feb. 1849, followed by their unconditional surrender to the pursuing force under General Gilbert. He vacated the command on 7 May 1849. On his return to England, Gough was raised to the dignity of a viscount, and awarded a pension of 2,000l. a year to himself and the next two heirs to the title. The East India Company voted him thanks and a pension, and the city of London conferred its freedom on him. He saw no more active service. He became a full general in 1854, and was appointed colonel-in-chief of the 60th royal rifles. He was made colonel of the royal horse guards or blues in 1855, on the death of Lord Raglan. The year after he was sent on a special mission to Sebastopol, to invest Marshal Pélissier and other officers of