Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, KB (sometimes spelled Abercrombie) (7 October 1734 – 28 March 1801) was a British lieutenant-general noted for his services during the Napoleonic Wars.
He was the eldest son of George Abercromby of Tullibody, Clackmannanshire. He was born at Menstrie, Clackmannanshire. Educated at Rugby and the University of Edinburgh, in 1754 he was sent to Leipzig to study civil law, with a view to his proceeding to the ...
more
Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, KB (sometimes spelled Abercrombie) (7 October 1734 – 28 March 1801) was a British lieutenant-general noted for his services during the Napoleonic Wars.
He was the eldest son of George Abercromby of Tullibody, Clackmannanshire. He was born at Menstrie, Clackmannanshire. Educated at Rugby and the University of Edinburgh, in 1754 he was sent to Leipzig to study civil law, with a view to his proceeding to the Scottish bar.
On returning from the continent he expressed a strong preference for the military profession, and a cornet's commission was accordingly obtained for him (March 1756) in the 3rd Dragoon Guards. He served with his regiment in the Seven Years' War, and the opportunity thus afforded him of studying the methods of Frederick the Great moulded his military character and formed his tactical ideas.
He rose through the intermediate grades to the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the regiment (1773) and brevet colonel in 1780, and in 1781 he...
less
