James Gisborne

{{Short description|British Army officer (d. 1778)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Use Irish English|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox MP |honorific_prefix = Lieutenant-General | name = James Gisborne | honorific_suffix = | image = | alt = | caption = | constituency_MP1 = Tallow | constituency_MP2 = Lismore | parliament = Ireland | majority =  | term_start1 = 1763 | term_start2 = 1768 | term_end1 = 1768 | term_end2 = 20 February 1778 | predecessor =  | successor =  | prior_term = }}

'''James Gisborne''' (died 1778) was a British Army officer and Member of the Irish Parliament.

==Biography== He was the son of James Gisborne, rector of Staveley, Derbyshire; Thomas Gisborne was his younger brother. He went to Ireland as page to the Duke of Devonshire, and had a successful career in the viceregal household.<ref name=HIP/> On 1 June 1739 he joined the Army with a commission as second lieutenant in Bissett's Regiment of Foot,<ref>Army List for 1740, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p_BfsBzDzWYC&pg=PA75 p. 75]</ref> and after a progressive service in the subordinate commissions, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 10th Regiment in 1755, and was afterwards employed many years on the staff of Ireland, as quartermaster-general in that country.<ref name=cannon>Richard Cannon, ''Historical Record of the Sixteenth, or the Bedfordshire Regiment of Foot'' (1848) [https://archive.org/stream/recordofsixteent00canniala#page/41/mode/1up p. 41].</ref>

In 1762 Gisborne was promoted to the rank of colonel of Foot,<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=10190|page=1|date=9–13 March 1762}}</ref> with command of the 121st Regiment, and on 4 March 1766 he was removed to the 16th Regiment.<ref name=cannon/> In 1770 Gisborne was persuaded by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Townshend, to resign his post as quartermaster-general in Ireland in favour of Simon Fraser, and was compensated with the sinecure of Governor of Kinsale. However, the government of Kinsale was then required for the outgoing adjutant-general, Robert Cuninghame, and Gisborne was granted a pension of £500 per annum until another government of greater value should become vacant;<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=cC0oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA403 Letter] of Junius to Lord North, 22 August 1770.</ref> he became Governor of Charlemont<ref name=HIP/> from 8 September 1770. Gisborne was promoted to major-general in 1770,<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=11039|page=1|date=1–5 May 1770}}</ref> and to lieutenant-general in 1777.<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=11802|page=2|date=2–6 September 1777}}</ref> He served as Acting Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in Ireland,<ref> {{cite book |last1 = Johnston-Liik |first1 = E. M. |year = 2007 |title = History of the Irish Parliament 1692-1800: Commons, Constituencies and Statutes |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XOiIAAAAMAAJ |volume = 4 |publisher = Ulster Historical Foundation |page = 267 |isbn = 9781903688717 |access-date = 30 March 2026 |quote = [...] aide-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant 1755-61; Lieutenant-General and (Acting) Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in Ireland; Colonel of 16th Regiment of Foot, Governor of Charlemont [...]; Major-General on the establishment 1774 [...]. }} </ref> and commanded troops in the suppression of the Hearts of Steel unrest (1769 to 1772) in Ulster.<ref> {{cite news |title = Ireland |work = The London Chronicle |volume = 30 |publication-date = 23 April 1772 |page = 390 |access-date = 30 March 2026 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZokcAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA390 |quote = Dublin, April 4. [...] The army lately sent to the North, under the command of General Gisborne, to quell the Insurgents, are quartered in 46 towns and villages, by which means the rioters dare not appear with arms. [...] Many of the unhappy Insurgents, who call themselves Hearts of Steel, by endeavouuring to make their escape to Scotland in open boats, have been drowned in the sea by the vessels overturning, being too much loaded. }} </ref>

Besides his military career, Gisborne was Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod in the Irish Parliament from September 1757, and sat in the Irish House of Commons for Tallow from 1763 to 1768, and for Lismore from 1768 until his death on 20 February 1778.<ref name=HIP>E. M. Johnston-Liik, ''History of the Irish Parliament'' (2002) vol. IV, pp. 266–267.</ref>

==References== {{reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Gisborne, James}} Category:1720s births Category:1778 deaths Category:Irish MPs 1761–1768 Category:Irish MPs 1769–1776 Category:Irish MPs 1776–1783 Category:British Army lieutenant generals Category:Royal Lincolnshire Regiment officers Category:Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment officers Category:30th Regiment of Foot officers Category:Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Waterford constituencies Category:Politicians from County Waterford Category:18th-century British Army personnel