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Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond

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(Redirected from Charles Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond) British peer, soldier and Conservative politician

His GraceThe Duke of RichmondKG PC
Portrait by Antoine Claudet, c. 1860
Postmaster General
In office
11 December 1830 – 5 July 1834
Prime MinisterThe Earl Grey
Preceded byThe Duke of Manchester
Succeeded byThe Marquess Conyngham
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
28 August 1819 – 21 October 1860
Hereditary peerage
Preceded byThe 4th Duke of Richmond
Succeeded byThe 6th Duke of Richmond
Member of Parliament
for Chichester
In office
1812–1819
Preceded byGeorge White-Thomas
Succeeded byLord John Lennox
Personal details
BornCharles Lennox
3 August 1791 (1791-08-03)
Richmond House, Whitehall Gardens, London
Died21 October 1860 (1860-10-22) (aged 69)
Portland Place, Marylebone, London
NationalityBritish
Political partyUltra-Tories
SpouseLady Caroline Paget (1796–1874)
Children
Parent(s)Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond
Lady Charlotte Gordon
Alma materTrinity College, Dublin

Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond, KG, PC (né Lennox; 3 August 1791 – 21 October 1860), styled the Earl of March from 1806–19, was a Scottish peer, soldier and prominent Conservative politician. Upon the death of his uncle in 1836, he inherited the Gordon estates and per the terms of the bequest, adopted thus additional surname. His near-complete correspondence is now held at the West Sussex Archives.

Origins

Gordon-Lennox was born in 1791, the son and heir of Charles Lennox (1764–1819) by his wife, Lady Charlotte Gordon, the eldest child of Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon. In 1806, his father inherited the Dukedom of Richmond from his uncle the third duke. From then until his father's death in 1819, Gordon-Lennox was styled Earl of March, a courtesy title, being one of his father's subsidiary titles.

In 1836, on inheriting the estates of his childless maternal uncle George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon, he was required by the terms of the bequest to assume the surname of Gordon before that of Lennox; he duly took the surname Gordon-Lennox for himself and his issue, by royal licence dated 9 August 1836.

Education

Gordon-Lennox was educated at Westminster School in London and Trinity College, Dublin.

Military career

The Duke of Richmond, portrait by William Salter

As Earl of March, he served on Wellington's staff in the Peninsular War, during which time he volunteered to join the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot's advance storming party on the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo. He formally joined the 52nd Foot in 1813 and took command of a company of soldiers at the Battle of Orthez in 1814, where he was severely wounded; the musket-ball in his chest was never removed. During the Battle of Waterloo (1815) he was aide-de-camp to the Prince of Orange, and following the latter's wounding, served as aide-de-camp to Wellington. He was chiefly responsible for the institution in 1847 of the Military General Service Medal for all survivors of the campaigns between 1793 and 1814, considered by many belated as hitherto there had only been a Waterloo Medal. He campaigned in Parliament and also enlisted the interest of Queen Victoria. Richmond himself received the medal with eight clasps.

On 19 October 1817, he reformed the Goodwood Troop of Yeomanry Artillery, originally raised by the 3rd Duke in 1797. The unit supported the cavalry of the Sussex Yeomanry but was disbanded in December 1827. Richmond was appointed Colonel of the Royal Sussex Light Infantry Militia on 4 December 1819, and Colonel-in-Chief of its offshoot the Royal Sussex Militia Artillery, on its formation in April 1853.

Political career

Richmond sat as a Member of Parliament for Chichester between 1812 and 1819. The latter year he succeeded his father in the dukedom and entered the House of Lords where he was a vehement opponent of Roman Catholic emancipation, and later was a leader of the opposition to Peel's free trade policy, as he was the president of the Central Agricultural Protection Society, which campaigned for the preservation of the Corn Laws. Although a vigorous Conservative and Ultra-Tory for most of his career, Richmond's anger with Wellington over Catholic Emancipation prompted him to lead the Ultras into joining Earl Grey's reforming Whig government in 1830 (Lang, 1999).

Garter-encircled arms of Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond, KG, PC

He served under Grey as Postmaster General between 1830 and 1834. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1830, and in 1831 was appointed to serve on the Government Commission upon Emigration, which was wound up in 1832.

Richmond was Lord Lieutenant of Sussex between 1835 and 1860 and was appointed a Knight of the Garter in 1829.

Marriage and children

Caroline Paget, Duchess of Richmond by Thomas Lawrence c. 1829

On 10 April 1817 he married Lady Caroline Paget (1797 – March 1874), a daughter of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey by his wife Lady Caroline Villiers, by whom he had five sons and five daughters:

Sons

Daughters

Death and burial

Monument to the 5th Duke of Richmond, Chichester Cathedral

The Duke died at Portland Place, Marylebone, London, in October 1860, aged 69 and was succeeded in the dukedom by his eldest son Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond (1818–1903).

See also

References

  1. "TNA entry".
  2. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: McNeill, Ronald John (1911). "Richmond, Earls and Dukes of". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 307.
  3. "No. 19409". The London Gazette. 12 August 1836. p. 1441.
  4. ^ Mosley, Charles (ed.) Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition. (volume 3) Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. p. 3335.
  5. ^ Moorsom, W.S. Historical Record of the Fifty-Second Regiment (Oxfordshire Light Infantry), London: Richard Bentley, 1860, p. 443
  6. Georgiana, Dowager Lady De Ros. Personal Recollections of the Duke of Wellington Archived 17 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Regency Library Archived 28 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Complimentary Issue Archived 28 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine July 2005. Originally published in Murray's Magazine 1889 Part I.
  7. Stanley C. Johnson, A Guide to Naval, Military, Air-force and Civil Medals and Ribbons, 1921, pp. 57–60
  8. L. Barlow & R.J. Smith, The Uniforms of the British Yeomanry Force 1794–1914, 1: The Sussex Yeomanry Cavalry, London: Robert Ogilby Trust/Tunbridge Wells: Midas Books, ca 1979, ISBN 0-85936-183-7, p. 7.
  9. Hart's Army List, 1855.
  10. leighrayment.com Privy Counsellors 1679–1835
  11. "Emigration from the United Kingdom" (PDF). Journal of the Statistical Society of London. 1 (3): 156–157. July 1838. doi:10.2307/2337910. JSTOR 2337910.
  12. leighrayment.com Peerage: Rendel-Robson
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded byGeorge White-Thomas
James du Pre 		Member of Parliament for Chichester
1812–1819
With: William Huskisson 		Succeeded byWilliam Huskisson
Lord John Lennox
Political offices
Preceded byThe Duke of Manchester Postmaster General
1830–1834 		Succeeded byThe Marquess Conyngham
Honorary titles
Preceded byThe Earl of Egremont Vice-Admiral of Sussex
1831–1860 		Vacant
Lord Lieutenant of Sussex
1835–1860 		Succeeded byThe Earl of Chichester
Peerage of England
Preceded byCharles Lennox Duke of Richmond
3rd creation
1819–1860 		Succeeded byCharles Gordon-Lennox
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded byCharles Lennox Duke of Lennox
2nd creation
1819–1860 		Succeeded byCharles Gordon-Lennox
French nobility
Preceded byCharles Lennox Duke of Aubigny
1819–1860 		Succeeded byCharles Gordon-Lennox
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