Background and Early Life
Le Marchant was the son of an officer of dragoons, John Le Marchant, a member of an old Guernsey family; his mother, Marie, was the daughter of Count Hirzel de St. Gratien and a descendant of the celebrated French Protestant leader Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, from whom Le Marchant derived his middle name. Le Marchant was born at his maternal grandfather's house in Amiens. After leaving Dr Morgan's school in Bath characterised as 'one of the two greatest dunces that had ever been there' (the other being Sir Sidney Smith), Le Marchant reformed his character and was commissioned in a regiment of the Wiltshire Militia. He later, in 1783, transferred to the regular army and obtained an ensigncy in the 1st Regiment of Foot (The Royal Regiment or Royal Scots). A few years of duty in Ireland and Gibraltar followed and he then made his move into the cavalry, being commissioned into the 6th Dragoons (Iniskillings). In the autumn of 1789 Le Marchant was promoted to lieutenant in the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays), and in 1791 he was promoted to captain and command of a troop.
Read more about this topic: John Le Marchant (British Army Cavalry Officer)
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