Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond

Field Marshal Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 3rd Duke of Lennox, 3rd Duke of Aubigny, KG, PC, FRS (22 February 1735 – 29 December 1806), styled Earl of March until 1750, of Goodwood House in Sussex and of Richmond House in London, was a British Army officer and politician. He associated with the Rockingham Whigs and rose to hold the post of Southern Secretary for a brief period. He was noteworthy for his support for the colonists during the American Revolutionary War, his support for a policy of concession in Ireland and his advanced views on the issue of parliamentary reform. He went on to be a reforming Master-General of the Ordnance first in the Rockingham ministry and then in the ministry of William Pitt.

Field Marshal His Grace The Duke of Richmond and Lennox KG PC FRS
Portrait by George Romney, circa 1777
Secretary of State for the Southern Department
In office 23 May 1766 – 29 July 1766
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Rockingham
Preceded by	Henry Conway
Succeeded by	The Earl of Shelburne
Personal details
Born	(1735-02-22)22 February 1735 Westminster, London, England
Died	29 December 1806(1806-12-29) (aged 71) Goodwood, Sussex, England
Resting place	Chichester Cathedral
Spouse(s)	Mary Bruce
Parents	Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond Sarah Cadogan
Awards	Knight of the Garter
Military service
Allegiance	Kingdom of Great Britain
Branch/service	British Army
Years of service	1752–1806
Rank	Field Marshal
Commands	33rd Regiment of Foot 72nd Regiment of Foot
Battles/wars	Seven Years' War

Coat of arms of Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, KG, PC, FRS

Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 1758 portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Origins

He was the son and heir of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond of Goodwood and of Richmond House, by his wife Sarah Cadogan, a daughter of William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan.[1]

Career

He was educated at Westminster School and Leiden University and succeeded his father as Duke of Richmond in August 1750.[2] He was commissioned as an ensign in the 2nd Foot Guards in March 1752,[3] promoted to captain in the 20th Regiment of Foot on 18 June 1753[4] and was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society on 11 December 1755.[5]

Richmond became lieutenant colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot on 7 June 1756.[6] A second battalion (2nd/33rd) of this regiment was raised and in 1757, and the following year it became an independent regiment, the 72nd Foot; Richmond was appointed its lieutenant colonel, while his younger brother George took command of the 33rd Regiment (1st/33rd).[1] In May 1758 he became colonel of the 72nd Regiment.[7]

Richmond took part in the Raid on Cherbourg in August 1758 and served as aide-de-camp to Prince Frederick of Brunswick at the Battle of Minden in August 1759.[2] Promoted to major general on 9 March 1761, he saw the 72nd Regiment disbanded in 1763 at the end of the Seven Years' War.[8] He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Sussex on 18 October 1763.[9]

Richmond was appointed British ambassador extraordinary in Paris and made a Privy Counsellor in 1765, and in the following year he briefly served as Southern Secretary in the Rockingham Whig administration, resigning office on the accession of Pitt the Elder in July 1766.[2] He was promoted to lieutenant general on 30 April 1770[10] and was briefly leader of the parliamentary Whigs in opposition in 1771 when Rockingham's wife was ill.[2]

Richmond's anti-colonial positions earned him the sobriquet "the radical duke."[11] In the debates on the policy that led to the American Revolutionary War Richmond was a firm supporter of the colonists, and he initiated the debate in 1778 calling for the removal of British troops from America, during which Pitt (now the Earl of Chatham) was seized by his fatal illness.[2] He also advocated a policy of concession in Ireland, with reference to which he originated the phrase "a union of hearts" which long afterwards became famous when his use of it had been forgotten.[12] In 1779 Richmond brought forward a motion for retrenchment of the civil list, and in 1780 he embodied in a bill his proposals for parliamentary reform, which included manhood suffrage, annual parliaments and equal electoral areas.[13][2]

Richmond joined the Second Rockingham Ministry as Master-General of the Ordnance in March 1782;[13] he was appointed a Knight of the Garter on 17 April 1782[14] and promoted to full general on 20 November 1782.[15] He resigned as Master-General when the Fox–North coalition came to power in April 1783.[2]

In January 1784 he joined the First Pitt the Younger Ministry as Master-General of the Ordnance; in this role he reformed the Department, introducing salaries for office holders, starting a survey of the South Coast (which led to the formation of the Ordnance Survey) and introducing new artillery (leading to the formation of the Royal Horse Artillery).[2] He now developed strongly Tory opinions, and his alleged desertion of the cause of reform led to accusations of apostasy, and an attack on him by Lord Lauderdale in 1792, which nearly led to a duel.[2][13] In November 1795, when Thomas Hardy and John Horne Tooke were charged with treason and cited his publications on reform in their defence, Richmond became a liability to the Government and was dismissed in February 1795.[2] He became colonel of the Royal Horse Guards on 18 July 1795[16] and was promoted to field marshal on 30 July 1796.[17] On 15 June 1797 he raised a Yeomanry artillery troop, the Duke of Richmond's Light Horse Artillery at his estate at Goodwood. The troop was equipped with his own design of Curricle gun carriage.[18]

In retirement Richmond built the famous racecourse at the family seat of Goodwood.[2] He was also a patron of artists such as George Stubbs, Pompeo Batoni, Anton Raphael Mengs, Joshua Reynolds and George Romney.[19]

Marriage

Mary Bruce, wife of the 3rd Duke of Richmond, engraving by William Wynne Ryland after Angelica Kauffman

On 1 April 1757 he married Lady Mary Bruce (d.1796), a daughter of Charles Bruce, 3rd Earl of Ailesbury, but produced no legitimate issue.[1]

Mistresses and illegitimate issue

Mrs Mary Bennett

As he acknowledged in his will he had three illegitimate daughters (Elizabeth, Caroline and Mary)[20] by Mrs Mary Bennett (1765-1845), described as "his housekeeper", [2] also known at sometime as Mrs. Mary Blesard,[21] 30 years his junior.[20] She was buried in Florence in the "English Cemetery" of the Cimitero di Pinti, where her gravestone survives (next to that of her daughter Caroline Napier) inscribed: SACRED/ TO THE MEMORY OF M. BENNET/ THE FOND MOTHER OF M. NAPIER/ BY WHOSE SIDE SHE NOW LIETH/ SHE DEPARTED THIS LIFE THE 13TH SEPTEMBER 1845/ IN THE EIGHTIETH YEAR OF HER AGE[22] To these daughters he bequeathed the sum of £10,000 each, and to Mrs Bennett he bequeathed his estate in Earl's Court, Kensington.[20]

• Mary Bennett, who at the age of 19 married William Light (1786-1839), founder of the City of Adelaide in Australia.[23]
• Caroline Bennett (9 August 1806 - 5 September 1836), who married her first cousin Henry Edward Napier, son of Colonel Hon. George Napier and Lady Sarah Lennox, sister of the 3rd Duke.[24] He was the author of Florentine History from the earliest Authentic Records to the Accession of Ferdinand the Third, Grandduke of Tuscany, and a brother of General Sir Charles James Napier, conqueror of the Sindh. She died at the Villa Capponi in Florence and her inscribed gravestone survives in the "English Cemetery" of the Cimitero di Pinti, Florence, next to that of her mother.[25]

Vicomtesse de Cambis

By his French mistress Gabrielle d'Aldace-Hénin-Liétard (d.1808),[26] (Vicomtesse de Cambis),[27] wife of the Comte de Cambis and sister of the Prince de Chimay,[28] he had another illegitimate daughter:

Henrietta Anne le Clerc (1773-1846), 1796 portrait by George Romney; collection of the Duke of Richmond, Goodwood House

• Henrietta Anne le Clerc (1773-1846), variously called "a protegée of the Duchess" and "a long acknowledged daughter of His Grace".[29] The 3rd Duke referred to her in his will as "Miss Henrietta Anne le Clerc, who resides with me and though Christened by the name of Anne only, is called Henrietta and whom I have [educated?] from her childhood", and bequeathed her an annual income of £2,000.[30] In 1778, aged 5, Henriette had been brought from France by the Duke's sister Lady Louisa Conolly, to live at Goodwood House.[31]^:265 It was in Henrietta's bedroom in Richmond House in London where in 1791 the fire started which destroyed that building.[32] By the Duke's will she received the life tenure of West Lavant House and Park and other lands and farms on the Goodwood Estate. On 28 March 1808, at St. James's Church, Westminster, she married General John Dorrien (1758-1825), Royal Regiment of Horseguards,[33][34][35] by whom she had a son Charles Dorrien. After her husband's death she turned to the management of her estate, where she bred Merino sheep and hunted with Colonel Wyndham's foxhounds.[36]

Death, burial and succession

Richmond died at Goodwood on 29 December 1806 and was buried in nearby Chichester Cathedral in Sussex. As he left no legitimate issue he was succeeded in the peerage by his nephew Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond.[10]

Memorials

After him was named Richmond County, Georgia, created in 1777.[37]

References

1. Heathcote, p.199
2. "Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
3. "No. 9147". The London Gazette. 7 March 1752. p. 3.
4. "No. 9279". The London Gazette. 23 June 1753. p. 2.
5. "Lists of Royal Society Fellows" (PDF). Royal Society. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
6. "No. 9590". The London Gazette. 8 June 1756. p. 2.
7. "No. 9789". The London Gazette. 6 May 1758. p. 2.
8. Brereton & Savoury, p. 41
9. "No. 10357". The London Gazette. 15 October 1763. p. 1.
10. Heathcote, p. 200
11. Yuhas, Alan (22 April 2017). "Rare parchment manuscript of US Declaration of Independence found in England". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
12. "Duke of Richmond". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
13.  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. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 306.
14. "No. 12288". The London Gazette. 16 January 1782. p. 1.
15. "No. 12391". The London Gazette. 23 September 1782. p. 1.
16. "No. 13796". The London Gazette. 14 July 1795. p. 741.
17. "No. 13918". The London Gazette. 2 August 1796. p. 743.
18. Barlow & Smith, p. 7.
19. "Goodwood House painting collection". Goodwood. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
20. Peill, James (2019). Glorious Goodwood: A Biography of England's Greatest Sporting Estate. Constable. ISBN 978-1472128249.
21. "Grant of an annuity from Lord John George Lennox to James Brownson of Norwich, esq., secured on properties [named] in Sussex". National Archives. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
22. "Image of grave of Mary Bennett". Retrieved 5 March 2020.
23. "Tribute to our first lady, Maria". www.adelaidenow.com.au. 22 November 2011.
24. "Person Page". Thepeerage.com. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
25. julia. "epitaphs". Florin.ms. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
26. Died at Richmond Green in Surrey, apparently in the household of Lady Ailesbury and her daughters (Elle s'établit à Richmond Green et elle prit en affection une certaine lady Ailesbury et ses filles)
27. ""Goodwood: The French Connection", 2013 special exhibition exploring Goodwood's French heritage" (PDF).
28. She had also been the mistress of Edward Gibbon (Edward Gibbon: History Books, Essays & Autobiographical Writings)
29. The Gentleman's Magazine, 1807.
30. "The Literary Panorama, and National Register, Volume 2". p. 1088.
31. Brian Fitzgerald (1957). Letters of Lady Louisa Conolly and William, Marquis of Kildare (2nd Duke of Leinster). Correspondence of Emily Duchess of Leinster (1731–1814). 3. Irish Manuscripts Commission. ISBN 9780903532211.
32. Annual Register of 1791.
33. "Release by Charles Dorrien of Ash Dean in West-bourne, esq. | The National Archives". Discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
34. "Grant of an annuity from Lord John George Lennox to James Brownson of Norwich, esq., secured on properties [named] in Sussex. | The National Archives". Discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
35. Obituary, The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 95, Part 1; Volume 137.
36. "Goodwood: The French Connection"
37. Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 188. ISBN 0-915430-00-2.

Sources

• Brereton, J.M.; Savoury, A.C.S. (1993). History of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment. Duke of Wellington's Regiment. ISBN 978-0952155201.
• Heathcote, Tony (1999). The British Field Marshals, 1736–1997: A Biographical Dictionary. Barnsley: Leo Cooper. ISBN 0-85052-696-5.
• 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.

External links

• Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Lennox, Charles (1735-1806)" . Dictionary of National Biography. 33. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Richmond, Charles Lennox, third Duke of" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

Military offices
New regiment	Colonel of the 72nd Regiment of Foot 1758–1763	Regiment disbanded
Preceded by The Viscount Townshend	Master-General of the Ordnance 1782–1783	Succeeded by The Viscount Townshend
Preceded by The Viscount Townshend	Master-General of the Ordnance 1784–1795	Succeeded by The Marquess Cornwallis
Preceded by Hon. Henry Seymour Conway	Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards 1795–1806	Succeeded by The Duke of Northumberland
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by The Earl of Hertford	British Ambassador to France 1765–1766	Succeeded by The Earl of Rochford
Political offices
Preceded by Hon. Henry Seymour Conway	Secretary of State for the Southern Department 1766	Succeeded by The Earl of Shelburne
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Earl of Egremont	Lord Lieutenant of Sussex 1763–1806	Succeeded by The Duke of Norfolk
Peerage of England
Preceded by Charles Lennox	Duke of Richmond 3rd creation 1750–1806	Succeeded by Charles Lennox
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Charles Lennox	Duke of Lennox 2nd creation 1750–1806	Succeeded by Charles Lennox
French nobility
Preceded by Charles Lennox	Duke of Aubigny 1777–1806	Succeeded by Charles Lennox