| Forbes Champagné | |
| Birth Date: | 2 July 1754[1] |
| Death Date: | [2] |
| Placeofburial: | Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Mitcham |
| Birth Place: | Clonmacnoise, County Offaly, Kingdom of Ireland |
| Death Place: | Mitcham, London[3] |
| Branch: | British Army |
| Rank: | Lieutenant General |
| Commands: | British Indian Army |
| Battles: | American Revolutionary War |
Lieutenant General Forbes Champagné (2 July 1754 – 23 October 1816) was a British Army officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War and officiated as Commander-in-Chief of the British Indian Army from 1807 to 1811.
Champagné was born into a family of French Huguenot exiles in Ireland,[1] the son of the Very Rev. Arthur de Robillard Champagné, Dean of Clonmacnoise, and Marianne Hamon, daughter of Colonel Isaac Hamon. His paternal great-grandfather was Chevalier Josias de Robillard, Seigneur de Champagné de Torxé, Saintonge,[4] who fled to Holland after the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685,[5] joining William of Orange's army. He married Marie de la Rochefoucauld of the noble house of the same name. Their daughter Susanne married Henri de la Motte-Fouqué, baron de Saint-Seurin et de Tonnay-Boutonne, and was mother of Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué. Their eldest son, Josias de Robillard (Forbes' grandfather), distinguished himself at a young age in service of Major-General Isaac de Monceau de la Melonière, who commanded a regiment of exiles in William's army during the Irish campaigns.[1] He married Lady Jane Forbes, daughter of Arthur Forbes, 2nd Earl of Granard.[6]
Forbes had three brothers: General Sir Josiah Champagné; Rev. Arthur Champagné, vicar of Castlelyons; and Rev. George Champagné, Canon of Windsor and Rector of Twickenham. He had six sisters, including Jane, who married the Earl of Uxbridge; Henrietta, wife of Sir Erasmus Dixon Borrowes, 6th Baronet; and Marianne, wife of Sir Charles des Voeux, 1st Baronet.[1] [6]
Champagné was commissioned into the 4th Regiment of Foot in 1773. He served in the Southern Colonies during the American Revolutionary War[7] and took part in the Battle of Wetzell's Mill in 1781.[8] By 1796 he had been appointed Commanding Officer of the 20th Regiment of Foot.[9]
He was promoted to colonel on 26 January 1797 and to major general on 25 September 1803.[10] He started officiating as Commander-in-Chief, India in 1807 and was also appointed colonel of the 1st Battalion of the 95th Regiment of Foot in 1809.[11]
Promoted to lieutenant general on 25 July 1810, he ceased officiating as Commander-in-Chief, India, following the appointment of Sir George Nugent, 1st Baronet in 1811.[12]
He lived in Merton[13] and died on 23 October 1816.[14]