commander-in-chief at Bombay in 1809. In this capacity he led the division from Bombay, which was to co-operate in the expedition sent by Lord Minto from India to capture the Mauritius. This island, which formed the base of the French fleet and of innumerable French privateers, caused immense damage to the Indiamen sailing between England and India, and Lord Minto had determined to subdue it. On his way the Ceylon, on which General Abercromby and his staff had embarked, was taken by the French frigate Venus, but on 18 Sept. was fortunately recaptured by Captain Rowley in the Boadicea. On 22 Nov. he left the island of Rodriguez with the Madras and Bombay divisions, and was joined, when in sight of the Mauritius, by the division from Bengal. He took command of the whole force as senior general present, and on 29 Nov. disembarked at an open roadstead, and advanced with 6,300 Europeans, 2,000 sailors lent to him by Admiral Bertie, and 3,000 Sepoys, upon Port Louis, the capital of the island. On 30 Nov. he fought a smart action, which showed the French general that resistance was impossible, and on 2 Dec. Decaen surrendered the island. Abercromby returned to Bombay in 1811, and continued to command the forces there till 1812, when he was appointed commander-in-chief and temporary governor of Madras. This presidency had lately been disturbed by the well-known mutiny of the Madras officers, on account of which Sir George Barlow had been recalled; but the quiet manner and good nature of General Abercromby had as good an effect as similar qualities had had during his uncle Sir Robert's command at Calcutta. In May 1813 Mr. Hugh Elliot assumed the governorship, and in December of the same year General Abercromby's health was so much impaired by the climate that he had to go home. On his return he was well received; he had been promoted lieutenant-general in 1812, and was now in 1814, on the extension of the order of the Bath, made a K.C.B. In 1815 his brother George resigned the seat for Clackmannan to him, and in 1816 he was made a G.C.B.; but his health was too bad for him to take any prominent part in politics, and on 14 Feb. 1817, when on the continent for his health, he died at Marseilles, where he was buried with full military honours. Some French writers have asserted that he was in command of an escort which conducted Napoleon to St. Helena; but there does not seem to be any record of the presence of any troops or any general officer on board the Northumberland, except the ordinary complement of marines. Sir John seems to have possessed the military abilities of his family, but had but little chance of showing them, except as military secretary to his father, and in the easy conquest of the Mauritius.
[For General John Abercromby's services in early life see the memoir of his father; for his services in Egypt see Sir R. Wilson's Campaign in Egypt; and for the capture of the Mauritius see the despatches in the Annual Register and Gentleman's Magazine, the Asiatic Annual Register, and Lady Minto's Lord Minto in India.]
ABERCROMBY, PATRICK (1656–1716?), Scottish antiquary and historical writer, was the third son of Alexander Abercromby of Fetterneir in Aberdeenshire, a branch of the house of Birkenbog in Banffshire, and which again was a migration from Abercromby of Abercromby in Fifeshire. He was born at Forfar in 1656. Like David Abercromby he was born into a Roman catholic family, and accordingly would not attend the parish school, but was probably educated first privately and then abroad (as he himself seems to indicate in the preface to his magnum opus). This probably explains his Roman catholicism and adhesion to James II. He graduated at St. Andrew's University in 1685. It has been alleged that he passed to the university of Paris, and there pursued his studies. His phrase of having ‘spent most of his early years abroad’ points rather to this having preceded his entry at St. Andrew's. On the completion of his professional course he is found practising as a physician in Edinburgh, according to his biographers; his title-pages assure us that he was ‘M.D.;’ he probably therefore gave himself to his professional duties with all fidelity and success, although some confusion with David Abercromby has apparently led his biographers to emphasise disproportionately his career as a doctor. When his brother Francis, eldest son of the family, was created Lord Glassford (or Glasford) on his marriage with Anna, Baroness Sempill, in July 1685, Patrick was appointed physician to James II. But this post he naturally vacated at the revolution.
When, in the reign of Queen Anne, the project of the union between England and Scotland took shape and substance, he rushed into the fray. Two considerable pamphlets by him attest at once his capacity and zeal: ‘Advantage of the Act of Security compared with those of the intended Union’ (Edinburgh, 1707), and ‘A Vindication of the Same against Mr. De Foe’ (Edinburgh, 1707). The logic was with Defoe, but the sentiment—more powerful—was with Aber-
