Career
Educated in Ireland, Irwin was commissioned into the 5th Regiment of Foot in 1736. He served in an attack on the French coast in 1758 and then fought under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick in Germany in 1760. Losing the last of these posts on the fall of Lord North"s administration in March 1782, he moved back into his house in Piccadilly and his place in parliament, rising to full General and retiring from parliament in 1783.
In debt, in 1783 he moved to France and then Parma, where he was welcomed by Duke Ferdinand and Archduchess Amelia and hosted British ex-patriates and visitors to the city until his death.