Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 41.djvu/266

 of the disease, its resemblance in some points to hysteria, and the method of action of various proposed remedies. Edmund Burke was his guest in 1756, and married his daughter Jane Mary early in 1757. Nugent himself was a Roman catholic; but his wife (, Life of Burke, p. 49) is stated to have been a presbyterian, and to have brought up her daughter in that religion. Burke called his younger son Christopher, after his father-in-law. Early in 1764 Nugent removed to London, and was one of the nine original members of the Literary Club (, Johnson, ii. 93). He was constant in his attendance (ib. ii. 129), and was present when Boswell was admitted. In the imaginary college at St. Andrews, discussed with Johnson, he was to be professor of physic. He was observant of the ordinances of his church, and had an omelette on Friday at the club dinner, which is mentioned by Macaulay in a famous passage. One club day after Nugent's death Johnson exclaimed, ‘Ah! my poor friend, I shall never eat omelette with thee again’ (, Anecdotes, p. 122). His London house was at first in Queen Anne Street, and afterwards in Suffolk Street, Strand; and on 25 June 1765 he was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians of London. In the same year he was elected F.R.S. He died 12 Oct. 1775. Burke was deeply attached to him; Johnson's affectionate regard is shown by his lament at the club; and even Sir John Hawkins joined in the general liking for him (, Life of Johnson, 2nd edit. p. 415). Dr. Benjamin Hoadley [q. v.] was one of his medical friends (Hydrophobia, p. 90). 

NUGENT, GEORGE (1757–1849), baronet, field-marshal, born on 10 June 1757, was natural son of Lieutenant-colonel the Hon. Edmund Nugent, 1st foot guards, who died unmarried in 1771, and was brother of Sir Charles Edmund Nugent [q. v.] The father was only son of Robert Craggs Nugent, viscount Clare, and afterwards earl Nugent [see ]. George was educated at the Charterhouse School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and on 5 July 1773 was appointed ensign in the 39th foot, with which he served at Gibraltar from February 1774 to March 1776. He was employed recruiting in England from March 1776 to July 1777. In September 1777 he joined the 7th royal fusiliers at New York as lieutenant, served with it in the expedition up the Hudson, and at the storming of forts Montgomery and Clinton, afterwards accompanying the regiment to Philadelphia, where he did duty with it until the evacuation of the city in July 1778. Meanwhile, in April 1778, he had been promoted to captain in the 57th foot. He served with the 57th in the Jerseys and Connecticut, obtaining a majority in the regiment on 3 May 1782. When the 57th left New York for Halifax, N.S., at the end of 1783, Nugent came home, having been promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the old 97th. That corps was disbanded before he joined it, and he was placed on half-pay. In 1787 he was brought into the 13th foot, in 1789 he was transferred to the 4th dragoon guards, and in 1790, as captain and lieutenant-colonel, to the Coldstream guards. From 1787 he was aide-de-camp to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, George Nugent Grenville (afterwards first Marquis of Buckingham) [q. v.] Nugent accompanied the guards to Holland in 1793, and was present at the siege of Valenciennes, the affair at Lincelles, the siege of Dunkirk, &c. When the army went into winter quarters Nugent returned home, and in the course of three months, aided by the Buckingham family interest, raised a corps of six hundred rank and file at Buckingham and Aylesbury, of which he was appointed colonel on 18 Nov. 1793. In command of this corps of ‘Bucks volunteers’—the 85th light infantry of later years—he proceeded to Ireland, and in 1794 to Walcheren, where he held the temporary rank of brigadier-general. Joining the Duke of York's army on the Weal, he was appointed to command a brigade; but Lord Cathcart [see ] having been appointed to command that part of the army, no officers of the rank of brigadier-general were allowed to serve with it. Nugent then returned home, and was appointed to the Irish staff. He had represented the borough of Buckingham in parliament since 1790, and in 1796 was returned for Buckingham again and for St. Mawes, having been appointed captain and keeper of St. Mawes Castle. He sat for Buckingham until the dissolution of the first parliament of the United Kingdom in December 1800. He became major-general on 1 May 1796. He held commands in the south of Ireland and afterwards at Belfast, commanding the latter district during the whole period of the rebellion. He was adjutant-general in Ireland from July 1799 to March 1801, and represented Charleville, co. Cork, in the last Irish parliament. On 1 April 1801 he was appointed lieutenant-governor and commander-in-chief in Jamaica, a post he held until 20 Feb. 1806, when he returned