Regency Personalities Series-Charles Lennox 4th Duke of Richmond
Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the��many period notables.
Charles Lennox 4th Duke of Richmond
December 9 1764 – August 28 1819
(Note that we profiled the Duke previously in May of 2013)
Charles Lennox
Richmond was born to of General Lord George Lennox, the younger son of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, and Lady Louisa, daughter of William Kerr, 4th Marquess of Lothian.
Richmond was a keen cricketer. He was an accomplished right-hand bat and a noted wicket-keeper. He was a founding member of the Marylebone Cricket Club. In 1786, with the Earl of Winchilsea, Richmond offered Thomas Lord a guarantee against any losses Lord might suffer on starting a new cricket ground. This led to Lord opening his cricket ground in 1787. Lennox��� and Winchilsea���s guarantee provided the genesis of the best-known cricket ground in the world, the Home of Cricket. Nearly always listed as the Hon. Colonel Charles Lennox, Lennox had 55 recorded first-class appearances from 1784 to 1800 and played a few more games after that.
Richmond became a British Army captain at 23 in 1787. In 1789, while a colonel in the Duke of York���s regiment, he was involved in a duel with Prince Frederick, Duke of York. At Wimbledon Common, Lennox fired, but his ball ���grazed his Royal Highness���s curl���; the Royal Duke did not fire. Colonel Lennox shortly after exchanged for a commission of Lieutenant-Colonel in the 35th. Later the same year, he was involved in another duel, with Theophilus Swift, Esq. They met and Swift was wounded in the body, but recovered.
Later that year he married Lady Charlotte Gordon. In 1794 and 1795 he participated in naval engagements against the French in the West Indies and Gibraltar. He was sent home when he came into conflict with his superiors. He was also MP for Sussex, succeeding his father, from 1790 until he succeeded to the dukedom.
He became the 4th Duke of Richmond on 29 December 1806, after the death of his uncle, Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond. In April 1807 he became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He remained in that post until 1813, with Arthur Wellesley as his secretary. He participated in the Napoleonic Wars and in 1815 he was in command of a reserve force in Brussels. On 15 June, the night before the Battle of Quatre Bras, his wife held a ball for his fellow officers. Although he observed the battle the next day, as well as Waterloo on 18 June, he did not participate in either.
In 1818 he was appointed Governor General of British North America. During the summer of 1819 Richmond undertook an extensive tour of Upper and Lower Canada. At William Henry (Sorel, Que.) he was bitten on the hand by a fox. The injury apparently healed, and he continued to York (Toronto) and Niagara (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.), even examining military sites as far distant as Drummond Island. Returning to Kingston, he planned a leisurely visit to the settlements on the Rideau. During this part of the journey the first symptoms of hydrophobia appeared. The disease developed rapidly and on 28 August he died in extreme agony in a barn a few miles from a settlement that had been named in his honour. Some accounts suggest that the duke had been bitten by a dog; stronger contemporary evidence, however, supports the view that he had received the rabies infection from a fox. Richmond���s body was brought back to Quebec, where on 4 September he was buried in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.
Richmond had fourteen children:
Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond.
Lady Mary Lennox, married Sir Charles Fitzroy.
Lt.-Col. Lord John George Lennox, married Louisa Rodney and had issue.
Lady Sarah Lennox, married Peregrine Maitland.
Lady Georgiana Lennox, married William FitzGerald-de Ros, 23rd Baron de Ros.
Lord Henry Adam Lennox.
Lord William Pitt Lennox, married first Mary Anne Paton & 2nd Ellen Smith.
Lady Jane Lennox, married Laurence Peel..
Captain Lord Frederick Lennox.
Lord Sussex Lennox, married Hon. Mary Lawless.
Lady Louisa Maddelena Lennox, married Rt. Hon. William Tighe.
Lady Charlotte Lennox, married Maurice Berkeley, 1st Baron FitzHardinge of Bristol.
Lt.-Col. Lord Arthur Lennox, married Adelaide Campbell.
Lady Sophia Georgiana Lennox, married Lord Thomas Cecil.
And Coming on April 1st, 2015
Beaux Ballrooms and Battles anthology, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the victory at Waterloo in story.
Looks good, huh? The talented writer and digital artist, Aileen Fish created this.
It will be available digitally for $.99 and then after a short period of time sell for the regular price of $4.99
The Trade Paperback version will sell for $12.99
My story in the anthology is entitled: Not a Close Run Thing at All, which of course is a play on the famous misquote attributed to Arthur Wellesley, ���a damn close-run thing��� which really was ���It has been a damned nice thing ��� the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.���
Samantha, Lady Worcester had thought love was over for her, much like the war should have been. The Bastille had fallen shortly after she had been born. Her entire life the French and their Revolution had affected her and all whom she knew. Even to having determined who she married, though her husband now had been dead and buried these eight years.
Yet now Robert Barnes, a major-general in command of one of Wellington���s brigades, had appeared before her, years since he had been forgotten and dismissed. The man she had once loved, but because he had only been a captain with no fortune, her father had shown him the door.
With a battle at hand, she could not let down the defenses that surrounded her heart. Could she?
As her father���s hostess, she had travelled with him to Brussels where he served with the British delegation. Duty had taken her that night to the Duchess of Richmond���s ball. The last man she ever expected to see was Robert, who as a young captain of few prospects, had offered for her, only to be turned out by her father so that she could make an alliance with a much older, and better positioned (wealthy), aristocrat.Now, their forces were sure to engage Napoleon and the resurgent Grande Arm��e. Meeting Robert again just before he was to be pulled into such a horrific maelstrom surely was Fate���s cruelest trick ever. A fate her heart could not possibly withstand.
