Chapter VII: Introduction (5)

LORD CHARLES FITZROY, brother of Augustus-Henry, Duke of Grafton, choosing a military life, obtained the commission of ensign in the first foot guards on the 16th of March, 1752. In 1756 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and in 1758 obtained the command of a company with the rank of lieut.-colonel. In 1762 he was promoted to the colonelcy of the 119th, or Prince's Own, regiment of foot, which was disbanded after the peace of Fontainbleau. The colonelcy of the fourteenth dragoons was conferred on his lordship on the 11th of September, 1765, and in 1772 he was promoted to the rank of major-general and removed to the KING'S OWN dragoons. He was further promoted to the rank of lieut.-general in 1777; advanced to the peerage by the title of LORD SOUTHAMPTON in 1780; and promoted to the rank of general in 1793. He died on the 21st of March, 1797.

FRANCIS LASCELLES.

_Appointed 23rd March, 1797._

This Officer was appointed on the 13th of December, 1761, captain in the seventeenth light dragoons, then commanded by captain-commandant Lord Aberdour. In June, 1764, he was appointed major of the eighth dragoons, and in May, 1768, obtained the lieut.-colonelcy of the regiment, from which he was removed on the 8th of May, 1780, to the lieut.-colonelcy of the KING'S OWN dragoons. He was appointed major-general in 1782; colonel of the eighth dragoons in 1789; and lieut.-general on the 12th of October, 1793. After the decease of Lord Southampton the colonelcy of the KING'S OWN dragoons was conferred on Lieut.-General Lascelles, who was also groom of the bed-chamber to King George III.; and was advanced to the rank of general in 1798. He was highly respected by the officers of the regiment, and was distinguished for easy dignity, manliness, and good sense. He died in 1799.

SIR CHARLES GREY, K.B.

_Appointed 4th September, 1799._

CHARLES GREY, fourth son of Sir Henry Grey, Baronet, entered the army in the reign of King George II., and was promoted to the command of a company in the twentieth foot on the 31st of May, 1755. In 1758 his regiment proceeded to Germany, and he was appointed aide-de-camp to the Duke of Brunswick, in which capacity he served in 1759 at the glorious battle of Minden, where he was wounded. In 1761, he was appointed lieut.-colonel commandant of the ninety-eighth regiment, which was then newly-raised, and was disbanded after the peace of Fontainbleau, when he was placed on half-pay. In 1772 he was promoted to the rank of colonel, and appointed aide-de-camp to King George III., who conferred on him the colonelcy of the twenty-eighth foot in March, 1777, and promoted him to the rank of major-general in August following. In 1782 he obtained the dignity of a knight of the Bath; was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general, and appointed commander-in-chief in America; but the war was terminated before he had an opportunity of proceeding thither. In 1787 he was removed to the eighth dragoons; and in 1789 he obtained the colonelcy of the seventh or Princess Royal's dragoon guards.

In 1793 Sir Charles Grey was appointed to the command of an expedition to the West Indies; but while the armament was preparing the Duke of York raised the siege of Dunkirk, and the French menaced Ostend and Nieuport. The troops sailed for Flanders, and by his timely arrival Sir Charles Grey preserved the two fortresses from the power of the enemy. He subsequently proceeded to the West Indies, and the islands of Martinico, St. Lucia, and Guadaloupe were captured: and his services were recompensed with the government of Dumbarton, and the colonelcy of the twentieth, or Jamaica, regiment of light dragoons, by commission dated the 4th of November, 1795. After his return to England he was promoted to the rank of general, sworn of the privy-council, reappointed colonel of the eighth dragoons, and placed in command of the troops stationed in the southern district, to repel the projected French invasion. In 1799 he was appointed colonel of the THIRD, or KING'S OWN dragoons. At length, being worn out with age and active service, he retired to his country seat to pass the remainder of his days in the bosom of his family. His services were not forgotten by his sovereign, who created him BARON GREY DE HOWICK in 1801; and advanced him, in 1806, to the dignity of Viscount Howick and EARL GREY: he held also the government of the island of Guernsey. His decease occurred on the 14th of November, 1807, at his seat called Fallowden, near Alnwick, in Northumberland.

WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT.

_Appointed 28th November, 1807._

This Officer was appointed cornet in the tenth dragoons on the 22nd of February, 1769, lieutenant in 1775, captain-lieutenant in the THIRD dragoons in 1778, and exchanged in 1779 to the tenth dragoons, of which corps he was appointed major in 1786, and lieut.-colonel in 1793. The high condition of the tenth was a proof of his care and attention to all the duties of commanding officer; and in 1796 he was appointed colonel in the army, and aide-de-camp to King George III. Having been promoted to the rank of major-general in April, 1802, he was employed on the staff of South Britain during the succeeding six years, first in the inspection of cavalry regiments in the western district, afterwards in the command of the cavalry on the coast of Kent, in the command of the cavalry in the home district, and subsequently in the command of a brigade of cavalry in Kent, designed for foreign service. In 1804 he was promoted from the lieut.-colonelcy of the tenth, to the colonelcy of the twenty-third dragoons, and in 1807 he obtained the colonelcy of the KING'S OWN dragoons. He was advanced to the rank of lieut.-general in 1808, to that of general in 1819, and in 1821 he was removed to the colonelcy of the King's dragoon guards. He was a member of the consolidated board of general officers: his decease occurred in February, 1827.

STAPLETON COTTON, VISCOUNT COMBERMERE, G.C.B., and G.C.H.

_Appointed 25th January, 1821._

STAPLETON COTTON entered the army in 1790 as second lieutenant in the royal Welsh fusiliers. His services, in command of a troop of the sixth dragoon guards under the Duke of York in Flanders, under General Harris in the East Indies, at the Cape of Good Hope, under the Duke of Wellington in command of a brigade of cavalry at Talavera, in command of the British cavalry at Fuentes d'Onor, Salamanca, Orthes, Toulouse, &c. &c. &c., were rewarded with the dignity of VISCOUNT COMBERMERE, grand cross of the military order of the Bath, and grand cross of the royal Hanoverian Guelphic order. He was appointed to the colonelcy of the twentieth dragoons in 1813, to that of the KING'S OWN dragoons in 1821, and was removed in 1829, to the first regiment of life guards, of which corps he has retained the command to the present time.

LORD GEORGE THOMAS BERESFORD, G.C.H.

_Appointed 16th September, 1829._

LORD GEORGE BERESFORD entered the service as cornet of the 14th light dragoons in April, 1794; he was shortly afterwards promoted, and, after serving in the grades of lieutenant and captain in the infantry, he obtained, in December, 1800, a majority in the 6th dragoon guards. In the following three years he was employed with that regiment in Ireland, and in attending Parliament as a member of the House of Commons for the county of Waterford, of which he was Custos Rotulorum. He was promoted to the rank of lieut.-colonel in Dillon's regiment in 1803, and when a second battalion was added to the 71st regiment, under the Additional Force Act, in the year 1804, Lieutenant-Colonel Lord George Beresford was selected for the command of it. In July, 1807, Lord George Beresford reverted to the cavalry branch of the service, and was appointed to the command of the 2nd, or Queen's Dragoon Guards, which he retained until his promotion to the rank of major-general on the 4th June, 1814. On the 16th September, 1829, his Lordship was appointed to the colonelcy of the THIRD, KING'S OWN, Light Dragoons, and attained the rank of lieut.-general in the army on the 22nd July, 1830. His Lordship was brother to the late, and uncle to the present, Marquess of Waterford, and he died at the Palace at Armagh, the residence of his elder brother, the Lord Primate of Ireland, on the 26th October, 1839.

LORD CHARLES SOMERSET MANNERS, K.C.B.

_Appointed 8th November, 1839._