Hugh Pigot

Admiral of the White Hugh Pigot (28 May 1722 – 15 December 1792), of Wychwood Forest in Oxfordshire, was a Royal Navy officer. He commanded at the reduction of Louisbourg in June 1758 and commanded Royal William at the capture of Quebec in September 1759 during the Seven Years' War. He went on to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands Station during the American Revolutionary War and then became First Naval Lord. He also served as a Member of Parliament.

Naval career Early career Hugh Pigot was the third son of Richard Pigot of Westminster, by his wife Frances, daughter of Peter Goode, a Huguenot who had come to England in the late seventeenth century. His elder brothers were George Pigot, 1st Baron Pigot, who twice served as Governor of Madras, and Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Pigot, who commanded the left flank of the British forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Pigot entered the navy in around 1735, serving for four years as a captain's servant and able seaman aboard the under Captain Alexander Geddes on the home station, and then under Captain Savage Mostyn. He then served for another two years as a midshipman aboard the Seaford, , and . On 5 November 1741 he passed his examination, and on 9 February 1741/42 (OS) was promoted to lieutenant, and on 2 August was appointed to the under Captain Thomas Grenville, in the Mediterranean.

In March 1744 he followed Grenville into on the home station, and on 2 November 1745 was promoted to commander of the fireship . On 22 April 1746 he was appointed as post-captain into the , apparently for rank only, and in April 1747 was appointed to command of the in the West Indies. In June 1758 he commanded York at the reduction of Louisbourg, and in September 1759 he commanded the 84-gun Royal William in the fleet of Sir Charles Saunders at the capture of Quebec.

In January 1771 and to vice-admiral on 5 February 1776. In 1778, following the death of his brother, Lord George Pigot, he was elected to fill his seat in Bridgnorth.

With the fall of the government the following month, and on 24 April 1782 was promoted to full admiral and appointed to supersede Sir George Rodney as commander-in-chief in the Leeward Islands Station. Pigot hoisted his flag on board the 50-gun , and sailed from Plymouth and then retired from the Navy on 30 December 1783,

Pigot died at Bristol on 15 December 1792.