Welsh Journals

letters on the same topic, apparently directed to the Duke and Lord North.14 Such applications to opposition leaders lacked a sense of political realism, and smacked of desperation, but Lisburne's hopes were to revive when Portland joined the Pitt ministry in 1794. It is time to bring John Vaughan onto centre stage; it is he, not his brother, who appears in the Dictionary of National Biography, albeit for reasons of notoriety as well as fame. Younger sons of gentry without prospect of an inheritance often entered the church or the army, and John Vaughan embarked early on a military way of life. His army service spanned nearly half a century and included four major wars, with Vaughan achieving a knighthood and the rank of lieutenant-general. His family's political connections assisted his early career. He entered the army in 1746 as a teenage officer, an ensign in the Marines. In 1748 he became a cornet in the prestigious 10th Dragoons, just when the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) came to an end: no evidence has come to light of his service in that conflict. During an eight-year interval of peace from 1748 Vaughan, based in Britain, became a lieutenant in 1751 and a captain in 1755. On the outbreak of the Seven Years War in 1756 he served with the Dragoons in Germany, but left that regiment in 1759 on being appointed a major, with orders to raise a new infantry regiment for service in North America. By 1760 his recruiting was so successful that he had raised a battalion of 600 men, a hundred more than his target. He was made Lieutenant-Colonel of this regiment, the 94th Foot, known as His Majesty's Royal Regiment of Welsh Volunteers.15 It is reasonable to surmise, but impossible to show, that many Cardiganshire men served in it. In April 1761 this regiment formed part of the expedition that cap- tured Belleisle, an island off the west coast of France. It was then transferred to the West Indies. Here in January 1762 Vaughan distinguished himself at the capture of the French naval base of Martinique.16 The war was now virtually over, and with all the volunteer regiments raised in 1760 about to be disbanded, Vaughan moved to command the 46th Foot, which remained on garrison duty in North America until 1767. It was then transferred to Ireland. While Vaughan was still on his 'voyage from North America' his brother Lord Lisburne wrote to ask the newly appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Townshend, that he be made an aide-de-camp.17 Whether or not Vaughan received this favour, he served in Ireland until the War of American Independence, becoming a full Colonel in 1772. His regiment was one of