Jeffrey Amherst

Jeffrey Amherst was born on January 29, 1717 in England. In 1735 he entered the army and rose through the ranks during the War of Austrian Succession and the Jacobine Rebellion. By 1756 Amherst was a colonel, and by 1758 William Pitt elveated him to the rank of Major General. He was first given charge of the forces that took the French fort at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island on June 27, 1758. In 1759 Amherst became commander in chief of North America and directed the forces that had taken control of the strategic sites of Ticonderoga, Niagara, Quebec, and Montreal. He was rewarded the office of Virginia and in 1763 he was recalled as commander in chief. Amherst was dismissed from office in 1768, then appointed governor of Guernsey and became a member of the king's Privy Council in 1772, and was named Baron Amherst in 1776. He gained the rank of full general and the command of all British forces in England in 1778, and died on August 3, 1797 in England.

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