where Nugent lived for over 40 years He was commissioned as an
ensign in the
39th Regiment of Foot on 5 July 1773 and was posted to
Gibraltar. He transferred the
7th Regiment of Foot at
New York with promotion to
lieutenant in September 1777 and saw action at the
Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery in October 1777 and then took part in the
Philadelphia campaign during the
American Revolutionary War. and a
major in the same regiment on 3 May 1782.
Flanders and Ireland Promoted to
lieutenant colonel in September 1783, Nugent was appointed commanding officer of the
97th Regiment of Foot and returned to England, but in the post-war cost reductions the regiment was disbanded and he instead became commanding officer of the
13th Regiment of Foot in 1787. He became an
aide-de-camp to his brother-in-law, the
Marquess of Buckingham, who was serving as
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in November 1787. He exchanged into the
Coldstream Guards as a company commander in October 1790 and served at the
Siege of Valenciennes in May 1793, the
Battle of Lincelles in August 1793 and the
Siege of Dunkirk also in August 1793 under the
Duke of York during the
Flanders Campaign. He commanded the regiment under
Sir Ralph Abercromby in the action at Fort St. Andries, and with
Major General David Dundas at
Tuil on the river
Waal and participated in the disastrous retreat from the
Rhine. Promoted to
major general on 1 May 1796, he became Captain of
St Mawes Castle on 5 November 1796 and served in that role until his death. He went on to be commander of the northern district of
Ireland in 1798, in which post he played an important part in the intimidation to compliance of the people of
Belfast during the
Irish Rebellion that year, and became
Adjutant-General in Ireland in August 1799. He also represented
Charleville,
County Cork in the last
Irish House of Commons before the
Acts of Union 1800. with promotion to local
lieutenant general on 29 May 1802. While serving there, he strengthened the fort that the Spanish slave agent in Jamaica, James Castillo, had built in 1709 in
Harbour View. Named Fort Nugent, the fort guarded the eastern entrance of the city of
Kingston Harbour, although all that remains there now is a
Martello tower that was added after Nugent's departure. Promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant general on 25 September 1803, Nugent returned to England in February 1806 and became commander of the
Western District in England in August 1806. and created a
baronet of
Waddesdon in the county of
Buckinghamshire on 11 November 1806. He bought
Westhorpe House in Buckinghamshire in October 1808 and became commander of the Kent District in England in July 1809. Having been appointed a
Knight of the Order of the Bath on 1 February 1813 and promoted to full
general on 4 June 1813, Nugent was replaced as Commander-in-Chief by
Lord Moira in October 1813. and, having been elected Member of Parliament for
Buckingham again in July 1818, he was awarded an honorary
DCL by the
University of Oxford in 1819. and later as honorary colonel of the
6th Regiment of Foot. Promoted to
field marshal on 9 November 1846. ==Personal life==