Burgoyne entered the army at an early age. In 1743 he made a runaway marriage Lady Charlotte Stanley, daughter of Edward Stanley, 11th Earl of Derby, but soon had to sell his commission to meet his debts, after which he lived abroad for seven years. By Lord Derby's intervention Burgoyne was then reinstated at the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, and in 1758 he became captain and lieutenant-colonel in the foot guards. In 1758-1759 he participated in expeditions made against the French coast, and in the latter year he was instrumental in introducing light cavalry into the British army. The two regiments then formed were commanded by Eliott (afterwards Lord Heathfield) and Burgoyne.
In 1761 he sat in parliament for Midhurst, and in the following year he served as brigadier-general in Portugal, winning particular distinction by his capture of Valencia d'Alcantara and of Villa Velha. In 1768 he became M.P. for Preston, and for the next few years he occupied himself chiefly with his parliamentary duties, in which he was remarkable for his general outspokenness and, in particular, for his attacks on Lord Clive. At the same time he devoted much attention to art and drama (his first play, The Maid of the Oaks, being produced by David Garrick in 1775), and gambled recklessly.
In the army he had by this time become a major-general, and on the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War he was appointed to a command. In 1777 he was at the head of the British reinforcements designed for the invasion of the colonies from Canada. In this disastrous expedition he gained possession of Fort Ticonderoga (for which he was made a lieutenant-general) and Fort Edward; but, pushing on, was detached from his communications with Canada, and hemmed in by a superior force at Saratoga. On the 17th of October his troops, about 3500 in number, laid down their arms. The success was the greatest the colonists had yet gained, and it proved the turning-point in the war. The indignation in England against Burgoyne was great. He returned at once, with the leave of the American general, to defend his conduct, and demanded, but never obtained, a trial. He was deprived of his regiment and a governorship which he held.
In 1782, however, when his political friends came into office, he was restored to his rank, given a colonelcy, and made commander-in-chief in Ireland and a privy councillor. After the fall of the Rockingham government in 1783, Burgoyne withdrew more and more into private life, his last public service being his participation in the impeachment of Warren Hastings.
In his latter years he was principally occupied in literary and dramatic work. His comedy, The Heiress, which appeared in 1786, ran through ten editions within a year, and was translated into several foreign languages. He died suddenly on the June 4, 1792. General Burgoyne, whose wife died in June 1776 during his absence in Canada, had several natural children (born between 1782 and 1788) by Susan Caulfield, an opera singer, one of whom became Field Marshal Sir J. F. Burgoyne.Biography