Born into Anglo-Irish gentry, Gough was the son of Lieutenant Colonel George Gough and Letitia Gough (née Bunbury), of Lisnavagh. His ancestors were originally from Wiltshire, settling in Ireland in the 17th century.[1]
Gough became General Officer Commanding the Mysore division of the Madras Army in 1837.[4] At the outset of the First Opium War in March 1839 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the British forces in China. He led the assault at the Battle of Canton in May 1841, and having been promoted to the local rank of lieutenant general in India and in China on 18 June 1841,[12] he also led the assault at the Battle of Amoy in August 1841.[4] Advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 14 October 1841[13] and promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant general on 23 November 1841, he commanded the British forces at the Battle of Chapu in May 1842 and at the Battle of Chinkiang in July 1842.[14] After the Treaty of Nanking, the British forces were withdrawn and he returned to India.[14] He became a baronet on 1 December 1842[15] and was promoted to the local rank of full general in India on 3 March 1843.[16]
The Second Anglo-Sikh War started in 1848, and again Gough took to the field commanding in person at the Battle of Ramnagar in November 1848 and at the Battle of Chillianwala in January 1849.[14] He was criticised for relying on frontal assault by infantry rather than using artillery and was replaced as commander-in-chief by Sir Charles Napier but, before news of his replacement had arrived, Gough achieved a decisive victory over the Sikhs in the Battle of Gujarat in February 1849.[14] He returned to Ireland and was advanced in the peerage as Viscount Gough of Goojerat in the Punjab and of the City of Limerick on 4 June 1849.[18] He retired from active service later that year and was promoted to the substantive rank of full general on 20 June 1854.[19]
Proposals for a statue to Gough began in 1869 but were rejected by Dublin Corporation, including sites in Carlisle Bridge, Foster Place and Westmoreland Street.[25] An equestrian statue of Gough by John Foley was ultimately erected outside the city, in Dublin's Phoenix Park in 1878[25] but, after being repeatedly vandalised in the 1940s and 1950s, it was moved to Chillingham Castle in Northumberland in 1990. The inscription reads:
In honour of Field Marshal Hugh Viscount Gough, K.P., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., an illustrious Irishman, whose achievements in the Peninsular War, in China, and in India, have added lustre to the military glory of his country, which he faithfully served for seventy five years. This statue [cast from cannon taken by troops under his command and granted by Parliament for the purpose] is erected by friends and comrades.[26]
The cannon referred to were captured by Gough in China and India and yielded 15 tons of gun-metal for the statue.[27]
Family
In June 1807, Gough married Frances Maria Stephens, daughter of General Edward Stephens.[4] His daughter, the Hon. Frances Maria Gough, was married to Field Marshal Sir Patrick Grant.[28]
As the 1st Viscount Gough, he set down a family seat near Gort at Lough Cutra Castle, County Galway, Ireland, when purchased by him in 1852.[29]
1st: a Boar's Head couped Or; 2nd: on a Mural Crown Argent a Lion passant guardant Or holding in the dexter paw two Flag Staves in bend sinister proper the one being the Union Flag of Great Britain and Ireland surmounting the other the staff thereof broken with a triangular Banner flowing therefrom to represent a Chinese Flag having thereon a Dragon and in an Escroll above the word "China"; 3rd: a Dexter Arm embowed in Facings of the 87th Regiment (Gules faced Vert) the hand grasping the Colour of the said Regiment displayed and a representation of a French Eagle reversed and depressed the staff broken proper in an Escroll above the word "Barossa".
Escutcheon
Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Gules on a Mount Vert a Lion passant guardant Or supporting with his dexter paw the Union Flag flowing to the sinister proper over the same in chief the words "China" and "India" in letters of gold; 2nd and 3rd, Azure on a Fess Argent between three Boars' Heads couped Or a Lion passant Gules in the centre chief point pendent from a Riband Argent fimbriated Azure a representation of the Badge of the Spanish Order of Charles III proper on a Chief within Battlements a Representation of the East Wall of the Fortress of Tarifa with a Breach between two Turrets the dexter Turret surmounted by the British Flag flying all proper.
Supporters
Dexter: a Lion reguardant Or gorged with an Eastern Crown Gules the rim inscribed with the word "Punjab" in letters of gold with Chain reflexed over the back also Gold; Sinister: a Chinese Dragon Or gorged with a Mural Crown Sable inscribed with the word "China" and chained Gold.
Motto
Above the centre Crest: Faugh a Ballagh (Clear the way); Below the shield: Goojerat.
^Burke, Sir Bernard; Burke, Ashworth, eds. (1914). Burke's Great War Peerage - Noble British and Irish Families on the Eve of the First World War. Burke's Peerage. doi:10.5118/bgwp.1914. ISBN9780850110609.