1752-1774

ca. 1752

Richard St. George Mansergh, the son of James Mansergh and Mary St. George Mansergh, is born in Ireland. He would later change his name to Richard St. George Mansergh St. George, or Richard Mansergh St. George for short.

1771

St. George begins his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge University, in England.

1772

Matthew and Mary Darly begin to publish Richard Mansergh St. George’s “macaroni'' cartoons in London. They published at least 10 of his cartoons in 1772 and 1773.

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Courtesy of the The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

1774

Richard Mansergh St. George inherits a maternal relative’s Irish estate. He added his relative’s surname to his birth name to become Richard St. George Mansergh St. George, or Richard Mansergh St. George for short.

1775-1778

1775

St. George graduates from Trinity College, Cambridge University.

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Courtesy of the Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

April 19, 1775

The Revolutionary War begins in America. 

December 24, 1775

St. George purchases a cornet’s commission (the lowest ranking officer) in the 8th Regiment of Dragoons, his grandfather’s and father’s old regiment in the British Army.

April 15, 1776

St. George purchases an ensign’s commission (the lowest ranking officer) in the British Army’s 4th Regiment of Foot and soon after poses in his uniform for a portrait by Thomas Gainsborough.

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Museum of the American Revolution, Acquired with funding from Ernest C. downs and from the Irish Georgian Society and its members

August 27, 1776

After sailing for America, Richard Mansergh St. George fights in the Battle of Long Island, his first combat experience. 

November 16, 1776

St. George fights in the Battle of Fort Washington and guards American prisoners.

December 23, 1776

Richard Mansergh St. George purchases a lieutenant’s commission in the 52nd Regiment of Foot’s light infantry company.

Summer 1777

St. George marches to fight against George Washington’s army in New Jersey and later sails south to attack Philadelphia, landing in Maryland at the north end of the Chesapeake Bay.

September 3, 1777

Richard Mansergh St. George fights in the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge in Delaware.

September 11, 1777

St. George is wounded in the heel at the Battle of Brandywine.

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Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania 

September 20-21, 1777

St. George participates in the attack on Pennsylvania troops at the Battle of Paoli.

October 4, 1777

Richard Mansergh St. George is shot in the head at the Battle of Germantown and survives surgery in Philadelphia.

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Courtesy of the Harlan Crow Library, Dallas, Texas

February 1778

St. George takes leave from the British Army because of his head wound and returns home to Ireland.

1779-1792

1782

Richard Mansergh St. George travels to Naples, Italy, and meets Xavier della Gatta who paints the battles of Paoli and Germantown based on St. George’s descriptions.

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Museum of the American Revolution

1783

St. George hosts a medieval fantasy costume party at his English estate and entertains Sir Brooke Boothby, poet Anna Seward, and artist Henry Fuseli.

1788

Richard Mansergh St. George marries Anne Stepney Doyne, the widow of Benjamin Burton Doyne. Together they have two sons, Richard James Mansergh St. George (b. 1789) and Stepney St. George (b. 1791).

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Collection of the Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York

1789

Richard Mansergh St. George hears news of a growing revolution in France and the storming of the Bastille in Paris.

August 1792

Anne Stepney St. George dies suddenly in England.

1793-1798

1793

French King Louis XVI is executed and a war begins between the new French Republic and Great Britain.

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Bibliothèque nationale de France

1796

St. George commissions his portrait by Hugh Douglas Hamilton that conveys his grief over the death of his wife.

1797

St. George seeks out and stops rebellious activity on his Irish properties that he felt threatened his land ownership and British rule in the country.

February 1798

Richard Mansergh St. George is ambushed and killed by a group of his Irish tenants in County Cork who are influenced by the United Irishmen and the Defenders. He is buried in Athlone, Ireland, following a military funeral. 

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Courtesy of Manchester Central Library

May 1798

The United Irishmen launch their revolt against British rule in Ireland. The British defeat the United Irishmen by October 1798. 

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Battle of Ballynahinch, Painted by Thomas Robinson, ca. 1800, Oil on Canvas, Permission Douglas Hyde Collection, Aras an Uachtarain.