SECOND HALF OF THE 18TH CENTURY

Sir Ralph Abercromby (7 October 1734-28 March 1801) was a distinguished lieutenant-general in the British Army and served twice as MP for his local constituency of Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire. Entering the army in 1756, Abercromby served in the Seven Years War and the French Revolutionary Wars, for which he was made a Knight of the Bath after commanding the British withdrawal from the Netherlands in 1794-5. The same year he was appointed as commander-in-chief of the British forces in the West Indies. He went on to play an important role during the Napoleonic Wars, successfully orchestrating the landing of British troops at Abukir in March 1801, but less than two weeks later he received a bullet wound in Alexandria and died on H.M.S. Foudroyant. He is buried in Malta and commemorated with a monument in St. Paul's Cathedral.