Debbieg, Hugh

DEBBIEG, HUGH. (1732–1810). British officer. Born in 1732. Debbieg's birthplace is unknown. After graduating from Woolwich Royal Military Academy in 1746, he entered the Royal Artillery, serving in the unsuccessful Point L'Orient campaign that same year as part of the War of the Austrian Succession. He won the attention of the duke of Cumberland for his gallantry at the Battle of Val on 2 July 1747 and gained promotion. After the end of the war, he served as an engineer in Britain, purchasing a lieutenancy in the Thirty-seventh Foot on 1 September 1756. He served in America during the Seven Years' War starting in May 1758, becoming General James Wolfe's assistant quartermaster general at the siege of Louisbourg and continuing in that position through the Battle of Quebec, where he was at Wolfe's side at his death. He was promoted to captain in the Royal Engineers on 17 March 1759. He spent the next two years overseeing the construction of Halifax's defenses and taking part in the campaign against the French in Newfoundland in 1762.

Over the next several years Debbieg undertook a number of important assignments, including a secret mission for Admiral Richard Howe to examine French and Spanish coastal defenses, for which he received a lifetime pension and was brevetted major on 23 July 1772. But he accused Howe of reneging on a promise to hold open the position of senior engineer in North America for him. As a consequence, Debbieg refused to serve in America in 1775, even when offered the position of chief engineer in Canada. He finally received the preferment he believed he deserved in 1777, being brevetted lieutenant colonel and then, in May 1778, becoming chief engineer on Jeffrey Amherst's staff. As such, he oversaw operations of the Royal Engineers for the rest of the war. Along the way he designed military bridges, an improved pontoon, and machinery for defending a breach. During the Gordon Riots of June 1780 in England, Debbieg organized the defense of public buildings, personally leading the defense of the Bank of England. On 20 November 1782 he was promoted to colonel of the Royal Engineers. With the exception of Amherst, Debbieg got along better with his subordinates than his superiors, leading the latter often to ignore his advice during the American Revolution. He came into almost immediate contention with the duke of Richmond when the latter took control of the ordnance office in March 1782. Debbieg was reprimanded and punished by courts-martial for insubordination in 1784 and 1789. Despite his many quarrels with Prime Minister Pitt, Debbieg was promoted to major general on 12 October 1793, lieutenant general on 1 January 1798, and general on 25 September 1803. Debbieg died at his home in London on 27 May 1810.