Sir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Baronet

Sir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Baronet
Sir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Bt by Georg Siegmund Facius, after Lemuel Francis Abbott.
Born	1737
Died	1812
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	General
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War

General Sir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Baronet (1737 – 1812) was an English soldier. He rose to the rank of general in the British Army and was noted for his service during the American Revolutionary War. He is one of the Musgrave baronets.

Sir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Baronet (1737–1812) was the sixth son and only surviving heir of Sir Richard Musgrave, 4th baronet of Hayton Castle, Cumberland by his wife, the second daughter of John Hylton of Hylton Castle, Durham.

He entered the British Army in 1754 as ensign in the 3rd Buffs and quickly rose through the ranks to fulfil a distinguished career. He became a lieutenant on 21 June 1756, and captain in the 64th Regiment of Foot, on 20 August 1759; a brevet-major 22 July 1772; major, 40th Regiment of Foot, December 1775; and lieutenant colonel, 27 August 1776, on the death of Lieutenant-colonel James Grant at Brooklyn (Flat Bush).

He commanded his regiment (40th foot) in the expedition to Philadelphia in the American War of Independence, where he greatly distinguished himself at Germantown, one of Earl Cornwallis's outposts in front of Philadelphia, when the American army in great force attacked the village on the morning of 4 October 1777. Musgrave, with six companies of his regiment, threw himself into a large stone house, later known as Chew House, which he defended with great resolution against repeated attacks, until he was reinforced and the Americans repulsed. The action was commemorated by a silver medal, which was at one time worn as a regimental order of merit. The house is represented on the medal, and is the background of one of the engraved portraits of Musgrave in the British Museum Prints.