The Captains

Charles Somerset the Earl of Worcester was an illegitimate son of Henry Beaufort, third Duke of Somerset.  During his childhood he was a exile in Flanders and was knighted by the Archduke Philip, himself a child, before the Battle of Bosworth Field.  Henry VII took a great deal of interest in Charles indeed he is mentioned in the accounts of the coronation 'three yards of cloth of gold fort the bastard Somerset'.  Early 1486 he was appointed Captain of the King's Yeomen of the Guard and on 1 March 1486 became keeper of the park of Posterna, Derby.  He was the King's Cup-Bearer and from 3 May 1486 until 25 Sep 1503 was a Knight of the Body.  He obtained the stewardship of Helmesley on 3 May 1487.  During troubled times between Brittany and France he attempted to gain the position of mediator.  To this end he fitted out a fleet of ships which he hired from Spanish merchants. He was placed in command of them as Admiral between Feb 1487 and 1488; the only time that an Admiral was Captain of the Sovereign's Body Guard. 

Following the death of  Francis II, Duke of Brittany, on 9 Sep 1488 Henry began to think about supporting the Duke's daughter Anne. Therefore on 1 Oct Somerset was once again commissioned to go to sea and on Aug 1489 he sailed.   In Sep 1490 Somerset was sent to invest Maximilian with the Order of the Garter when an understanding had been reached regarding the protection of Brittany.  On 23 Apr 1496 he himself became a Knight of the Order of the Garter and named Commissioner of Array for Wales and was made a Knight Banneret on 17 Jun 1497.  In 1498 Somerset was again in the position of diplomat, when Louis XII wished to continue the treaty of Ētaples on the death of Charles VIII of France.  He was also present when Henry and The Archduke Philip met outside Calais in 1500.  Because of his strong connection with Henry he was appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Royal Household in 1501.  That Somerset was trusted and thoroughly relied upon is in little doubt and by 1503 had several valuable grants and was styled Baron Herbert. 

In 1504 he received the office of constable of Montgomery Castle and in 1505 became a privy councillor.  After the delicate negotiations regarding Henry's French Marriage he was rewarded for his long service to the Crown by the creation of Baron Herbert of Ragland (sic), Chepstow, and Gower in 1506 and to the position of Chamberlain to the Household in 1508.  On Henry VII's death Henry VIII continued the appointment of Chamberlain of the Household. He went of the expedition of 1513 landing at Calais on 10 June.  On 1 Feb 1513-4 he was created Earl of Worcester.  As Chamberlain of the Household he was a major contributor to the arrangements for the Field of the Cloth of Gold and on 13 Apr 1520 he landed at Calais to take charge of the preparations.  Worcester was present at the meeting between Henry VIII and Charles at Gravelines. In May 1521 he took part in Buckingham's trail and went with Wolsey to the congress at Calais.  In 1522 he Worcester was present at the reception of Charles V and was one of whom attested the Treaty of Windsor.  After the Battle of Pavia he took part in the treaty between England and France which was signed on 30 Aug 1525.  By now Worcester was old and his office was taken by William, Baron Sandys of The Vine on 27 Feb 1526.  On 15 Apr 1526 Worcester died and buried in the Beaufort chapel at Windsor.   back to index          

Sir Henry Marney fought at the battles of Bosworth and Stoke, was knighted for his part in routing the pretender, Perkin Warbeck, and the Cornish rebels at Blackheath in 1497. A respected member of the Privy Council under both Henry VII and Henry VIII he was created a Knight of the Bath at Henry VIII’s Coronation. He was also appointed Lord Privy Seal, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Captain of the Yeomen of the guard. He was created a Knight of the Garter in 1510 and Lord Marney 14th by Henry VIII. Lord Marney died on 24 May 1523 and buried the same day at St Mary the Virgin, Layer Marney, England.  Still being researched.  back to index

He was under thirty, tall, well-built, of a ‘good presence,’ with thick dark hair, a bright complexion and an expression full of life.  He had, moreover, the reputation of a bold and dashing partisan, ingenious and daring, fearless alike in the field and in the council-chamber, a man of a stout heart and a sound head. For several years Raleigh belonged to the court, the recipient of the Queen’s bounties and favour to an extent which gave much occasion for scandal.  Among other patent and monopolies, he was granted, in May 1583, that of Wine Licenses.  In 1584 he was knighted, and in 1585 was appointed Warden of the Stannaries that is one of the mines of Cornwall, and Devon, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, and Vice-Admiral of the two counties.  Both in 1582 and 1586 he sat in parliament as member for Devonshire.  In 1586 he was also appointed Captain of the Queen’s Guard, an office requiring immediate attendances on the Queen’s person.  It is by his long, costly and persistent effort to establish this first of England colonise that Raleigh’s name is most favourably know, to Raleigh belongs the credit of having, first of Englishmen, pointed out the way to the formation of a greater England beyond the seas.  But he had no personal share in the actual expeditions, and he was never in his whole life near the coast of Virginia. 

Among the more immediate results of his endeavours is popularly reckoned the introduction, about 1586, into England of potatoes and tobacco.  The assertion is in part substantiated, his ‘Servant’ Harriot, whom he sent out to America, gives in his ‘Brief and True report of Virginia’ (1588) a detailed account of the potato and tobacco, and describes the use to which the natives put them, he himself made the experiment of smoking tobacco.  The potato and tobacco were in 1596 growing as rare plants in Lord Burghley’s garden in the Strand.  Although potatoes had a far earlier period been brought to Europe by the Spaniards, Harriot’s specimens were doubtless the earliest to be planted in this kingdom.  Some of them Raleigh planted in this garden at Youghal. And on that ground he may be regarded as one of Ireland’s chief benefactors.  The cultivation spread rapidly in Ireland, but was uncommon in England until the eighteenth century.  In March 1588, when the Spanish invasion appeared imminent, Raleigh was appointed on of a commission under the presidency of Sir Francis Knollys. To draw up a plan for the defence of the country.  The statement that it was by Raleigh’s advice that the Queen determined to fit out the fleet is unsupported by evidence.  It nowhere appears that Raleigh had any voice as to the naval preparations. 

His recall and imprisonment were due to the Queen’s wrath on discovering that the man whom she had delighted to honour and enrich, who had been professing a lover’s devotion to her, had been carrying on an intrigue with one of her maids of honour, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Nicolas Throgmorton.  The Queen showed no more mercy to Mistress Throgmorton that to her lover, as she also was imprisoned in the Tower.  It is probable that Raleigh and Elizabeth Throgmorton were married afterwards.  Being forbidden to come to court, they settled at Sherborne, were in January 1591-2 Raleigh had obtained a ninety-nine year’s lease of the castle and park.  In 1595 as Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, prepared for the defence of the country against a threatened invasion from Spain.  This prevented his personally undertaking a new voyage to Guiana, but in January 1595-1596 he sent out his trusty friend, Lawrence Kemys.  Meanwhile Raleigh took a brilliant part in the expedition to Cadiz in June 1596.  He commanded the vanguard himself in the leading ship, the Warspite, as the fleet forced its way into the harbour, and through severely wounded, he was carried on shore where the men landed for the storming of the town. 

Raleigh had been commended for his share in the taking of Cadiz his friends believed that the Queen’s wrath was wearing itself out and Essex was not hostile.  In May 1597 Raleigh was in daily attendance at the court, and on 1 June he was brought to the Queen who used him very graciously and gave him full authority to execute his place as Captain of the Guard.  Intrigues centred round the King of Scots for at least two years before the death of the Queen, James was systematically informed that Raleigh was opposed to his claims, and was ready to proceed to any exterminates, to prevent his accession to the throne.

The letters were written by Lord Henry Howard (afterwards Earl of Northampton) probably with the knowledge if not the approval, of Cecil.  The result, at any rate, was that in 1603 James crossed the border with a strong prepossession against Raleigh, and when Raleigh, who had been in the West, hastened to meet him, he was received with marked discourtesy.  A fortnight later he was deprived of his post of Captain of the Guard he was persuaded or compelled to resign the Wardenship of the Stannaries and the governorship of Jersey, his lucrative patent of wine licenses was suspended as a monopoly, and he was ordered ‘with unseemly haste’, to leave Durham House in the Strand, but he still remained at court in occasional attendance on the King, hoping, it may be, to overcome the prejudice and win the royal favour.  On or about 14 July he was summoned before the Lords of the Council. Who examined him as to say knowledge he might have of the plot ‘to surprise the King’s person’, or of any plot contrived between Lord Cobham and Count Romberg, the Spanish agent in London.  Of Watson’s plot he most probably was entirely ignorant.  With Cobham he was still on friendly terms, and Cobham had taken from his house a book by one Snagge, contesting James’s title.  Raleigh had once borrowed the work from Lord Burghley’s library.  Moreover he knew that Cobham had been in correspondence with Aremberg.  this he denied before the council, but he afterwards admitted it, and his prevarication, joined to his know intercourse with Cobham and his reasonable causes for discontent, appeared so suspicious that on 17 July he was sent a prisoner to the Tower, ‘Unable to endure his misfortunes’ he attempted to commit suicide.  Raleigh was treated leniently in prison; he had apartments in the upper story of the Bloody Tower, where his wife and son, with their personal attendants, also live, at the rate for household expenses of about 200l a year. 

But his health suffered from cold and frequent efforts were made by his enemies to concoct fresh charges of disloyalty against him.  In 1610 they succeeded in depriving him for three months of the society of his wife, who was ordered to leave the tower.  In Prince Henry, however, he found a useful friend.  The Prince was mainly attracted by Raleigh’s studies in science and literature, to which his enforced leisure was devoted.  For the Price, Raleigh designed a model of a ship, encouraged by him he began his ‘History of the World’ and for his guidance designed many political treaties.  In a laboratory, or ‘still-house,’ allowed him in the Tower garden for chemical and philosophical experiments, he condensed fresh from salt water.  As early as 1610, possibly earlier, Raleigh sought permission for another venture to the Orinoco.  He was willing to command an expedition himself, or to serve as guide to any persons appointed.  ‘If I bring them not’ he wrote, ‘to a mountain covered with gold and silver ore, let the commander have commission to cut off my head there’.  His proposal received some encouragement, and in 1611 or 1612 certain Lords of the council offered to send Kemys with two ships, on condition that the charge should be borne by Raleigh if Kemys failed to bring back at least half a ton of gold ore similar to the specimens.  Raleigh objected that it was ‘a matter of exceeding difficulty for any man to find the same acre of ground again in a country desolate and overgrown which he hath seen but once, and that sixteen years since’. ‘Yet,’ he wrote, ‘that your lordships may be satisfied of the truth, I am contented to adventure all I have, but my reputation, upon Kemy’s memory,’ the condition on the other side being ‘that half a ton of all the former ore being brought home, that I shall have my liberty, and in the meanwhile my free pardon under the great seal, to be left in his majesty’s hands till the end of the journey’ 

There can, however, be little doubt that Cecil, now Earl of Salisbury, did not encourage the scheme, but the King yielded to the representations of Sir Ralph Winwood Raleigh’s steadfast friend, and of Sir George Villiers (afterwards Duke of Buckingham).  The warrant for his release was dated 19 March 1615-16, from the tower two or three days earlier, though he continued throughout the year under the guard of a keeper.  He had no support from the crown, and he and his wife adventured all they had, including the 8,000, or as much of it as had been paid in compensation for the resumption of Sherborne, and some land of hers at Micham, the gentlemen volunteers who gathered round Raleigh subscribed the rest. With them were Kemys, Captain (afterwards Sir John) Pennington, and others of good repute as seamen or as soldiers, as soon as the proposed voyage to the Orinoco was publicly spoken of, Samiento, the Spanish ambassador, vehemently protested against it.  All Guiana (the modern Venezuela), he asserted, belonged to the King of Spain, and Raleigh’s incursion would be an invasion of Spanish territory, but he thought it more probable that Raleigh meant to lie in wait for and attack the Mexican plate fleet, in practical disregard of the peace between the two countries.  Raleigh protested that he had no intention of turning pirate, the mine really existed. He believed that success, in spite of his orders would win the King’s pardon, but, if not, that the treasure he would carry with him would insure him a favourable reception in France, he sailed form Plymouth with a squadron of fourteen ships on 12 June 1617.  The voyage was unfortunate from the first, foul winds and storms drove him back, and afterwards scattered his fleet, one ship was sunk, most of them, more or less disabled put into the harbour of Cork.  He was not ready to sail again till 19 Aug, at the Canaries the Spaniards were sullenly obstructive, and it was only after being refused at two of the islands that they were allowed to water at Gomera. From the Cape Verde Islands they were driven by a hurricane, calms and foul winds followed, they lay forty days in the Doldrums, short of water, a prey to scurvy and fever, great numbers of the men, with several of the captains and superior officers died.  Raleigh himself was stricken with fever, the crews were mutinous, it was afterwards stated the Raleigh encouraged them with assurances of capturing the Mexican fleet if the mine failed.  On arriving off the mouth of the Oyapok he hoped to be joined by Leonard, an Indian whom he had brought to England on his former voyage, and who had lived with him for three or four years, but Leonard was not there, and Raleigh moved his squadron reduced by wreck or separation to ten ships to the mouth of the Cayenne, there he was welcomed by friendly natives whose affection he had won twenty years before. ‘To tell you’ he wrote to his wife on 14 Nov, ‘that I might be King of the Indians were but vanity they feed me with fresh meat and all that the country yields’. When the men were somewhat refreshed and recovered from sickness, he moved to the Isle de Salut, and there prepared for the farther adventure.  The chief command of the expedition up the river he entrusted to Kemys his nephew, George Raleigh, was to command the soldiers among whom was his son Walter, Raleigh gave orders that they should land at a point agreed on, and march to the mine, said to be three miles distant.  If they were attacked by the Spaniards in moderate force they were to repel them, but ‘if without manifest peril on my son’, he said to Kemys ‘yourself’ and other captains, you cannot pass toward the mine, the be well advised how you land.  The expedition started on 10 Dec, but the settlement, of San Tomas had been moved several miles lower sown the river, and it was impossible to pass it without being seen, or to march to the mine without the danger of falling into an ambuscade, Kemys decided to attack the town, which was stormed and burnt, though with the loss of young Walter, Raleigh’s son.

The Spaniards took to the woods, and in face of their opposition, Kemys judged it impossible to reach the mine, he accordingly returned, and rejoined Raleigh at Punto Gallo, only to kill himself in despair at the bitter reproach to which Raleigh gave vent. He had brought fresh evidence of the existence and wealth of the mine, and Raleigh wished to lead his men back for another attempt, but they shrank from the venture, he could neither persuade nor compel them, they were thoroughly disheartened.  He had now only four ships with him, and though with these he would fain have kept the sea in hopes of capturing some rich prizes, his men refused to follow him, he realised the danger that awaited him in England, and arrived at Plymouth about the middle of June 1618, already the news of the attack at San Tomas and of the failure of the expedition had reached the King, and the Spanish minister, now Condede Gondomar, demanded satisfaction in accordance with James’s promise that ‘if Raleigh returned loaded with gold acquired by an attack on the subjects of the King of Spain, he would surrender it all, and would give up the authors of the crime to be hanged in the public square of Madrid’. James assured him that e would be as good as his word.  Shortly after his arrival at Plymouth Raleigh set out for London, but as Ashburton he was arrested by his cousin, Sir Lewis Stucley or Stukeley, who took him back to Plymouth, where he was left much to himself, the opportunity suggested advisability of escaping to France, but while he was still hesitating orders came for him to be taken to London, there also he was left at large, but attempting to escape to a French ship at Gravesend, he was arrested, brought back, and lodged in the Tower.  Commissioners were not appointed to inquire into what had been done, with Lord-Chancellor Bacon at their head, they were all men of good repute, and there is no reason to doubt hat they performed their duty conscientiously, Raleigh was examined. But his statements contradicted each other, till ‘exasperated by the audacity of his lying, they came to the conclusion that there was not a single word of truth in his assertions, that his belief in the very existence of the mine was a mere fiction invented for the purpose of imposing upon his too credulous sovereign’, and that his lies must be taken as an admission of his guilt, James accordingly gave orders for him to brought to trial, but was told that, as Raleigh was already under sentence of death, he could not now be legally tried, if he was to be executed, it must be on the former sentence.  On the following morning, 29 Oct 1618, he was brought to the scaffold erected in Old Palace Yard, he met his death calmly and cheerfully, and of his last words many have become almost proverbial, as he laid his head on the block some one objected that it ought to be towards the east, ‘What matter’, he answered, ‘how the head lie, so the heart be right’. The chancel of St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, in spite of Lady Raleigh’s wish that he should be buried at Beddington, the head she caused to be embalmed, and she kept it by her in a red leather bag as long as she lived.  back to index

Dear Reader.  If you have any information about The Captains of the Body Guard, or history regarding the Yeomen of the King's/Queen's Body Guard generally, I would be very grateful for a copy or directions as to where I may find it.  Many thanks. Yeo Bill Norton   back to index

William Douglas was the 7th or 8th Earl of Morton and Lord High Treasurer of Scotland and the only son of Robert Douglas the 6th or 7th Earl  -  (This uncertainty can occur when the current hold of the title and his heir die together, generally in battle. Uncertainty as to whom died before whom creates this dilemma, eg father and eldest son are on the battlefield; father is the 5th Earl and is killed; automatically his eldest son becomes the 6th Earl, but he too is killed; so long as their deaths have occurred in that order there is a natural progression and the title carries on to the 7th Earl. The problem arises where it is uncertain who died first. The next in line for the title may well become the 6th Earl if it was his elder brother that died before his father....confused? Well how do you think William Douglas felt not knowing if he was the 7th or 8th Earl!)  -  He succeeded to the Earldom on the death of his grandfather in 1606, soon afterwards he was made Privy Councillor and a Gentleman of the Chamber to James VI, in which office he was continued by Charles I.  He commanded the Scots regiment of three thousand men in the Rochelle expedition of the Duke of Buckingham in 1627.  On the demission of the Earl of Mar in 12 April 1630 he was made Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, and when he resigned it in 1635, he was made Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, invested with the Order of the Garter, and sworn a Privy Councillor in England. 

He accompanied King Charles on his visit to Edinburgh in 1633, devoting himself to the King’s interests, and humouring his Scottish policy, he enjoyed his confidence in regard to Scottish affairs, even after he had demitted the office of Lord High Treasurer.  He was one of the commissioners who accompanied the Lyon King-at-Arms to the Scottish camp in 1639, to witness the declaration of the King’s proclamation and was also appointed to assist in arranging the treaty at Ripon in October 1640.  When the King opened the Scottish parliament Morton accompanied him in the procession to the house but as he had not signed the covenant he was one of the noblemen excluded from entering the room.  On the 18 October however, he subscribed to the covenant and took his seat.  On 20 September the King nominated him for the chancellorship but his nomination was vehemently objected to by his son-in-law, the Earl of Argyll, afterwards Marquis, on the grounds that such an office might shelter him from his creditors, that he was a contemptuous rebel and often at the horn (a drinker), that he deserted his country in her greatest need and the he was ‘decrepit and unable’.  On the outbreak of the civil war he aided the King by the advance of large sums of money, disposing for this purpose of the castle of Dalkeith to the Buccleuch family.  On this account he had a charter 15 June 1643, of the islands of Orkney and Shetland, with the regalities belonging to them redeemable by the crown on the payment to him of £30,000 sterling.  In 1644 a commission of judiciary was granted to him by parliament for Orkney and Shetland for three years from 1 August.  He went to wait on Charles I in 1646 when he took refuge with the Scotch army, and after Charles was given up to parliament he retired to Orkney.  He died at the castle of Kirkwall in March 1649-50, his Countess, Agnes Keith dying on the 30 May.  Both were buried at Kirkwall.   back to index

Goring crossed into Essex to examine into the preparations of the cavaliers of that county, leaving his forces encamped in Greenwich Park till his return.  Without waiting for orders they followed him, and Goring finding very little support from the men of Essex, endeavoured to hold out in Colchester until help came (12 June), in August starvation obliged the garrison to surrender.  The besieged had intended to attempt a general sally, but the common soldiers suspected their officers of an intention to escape and desert them.  To allay this suspicion Goring and the other leaders took a solemn engagement to deliver themselves up as prisoners, and submit to the mercy of their enemies, if thereby they could purchase the liberty of their followers.  In the capitulation signed on 27 Aug, Goring and the leaders surrendered to mercy, while quarter was promised to the soldiers.  Goring was sent prisoner to Windsor Castle, he had been voted a rebel on 5 June, and it was decided on 25 Sept, that he should be impeached.  He was sentenced to death on 6 March, but two days later the commons thought fit to respite his execution.  In the division on Goring’s case, the numbers for and against being equal, the speaker’s casting vote turned the scale in favour of mercy.  On 7 May 1649 Goring, on his petition to the House of Commons, was pardoned as to his life, and set at liberty.  Shortly afterwards he rejoined Charles II on the continent, and remained in exile during the rest of the interregnum.  In the spring of 1652 he was employed by Charles to negotiate with Duke of Lorraine for the relief of Ireland, and to propose a marriage between the Duke of York and a daughter of the Duke of Lorraine.  His negotiations met with little success.   During the latter part of the exile of Charles II, Goring does not seem to have been employed no doubt on account of his advanced age.  At the Restoration he was appointed Captain of King’s Guard, and took his place in the Privy Council, but did not regain his lucrative office as farmer of the tobacco customs, nor did he obtain much satisfaction for his losses in the King’s service. Goring died at Brentford on 6 Jan 1662-3 aged, according to Smyth, about eighty.  He was buried on 14 Jan, in Westminster Abbey in St John Baptist’s Chapel.   back to index

Charles Edward Montagu, 1st Duke of Manchester and diplomat, was educated at Trinity College Cambridge and in 1680 he was created MA. He succeeded to his father's Earldom and Viscount Manderville on 14 March 1682.  Of handsome appearance, he was chosen to serve the office of Lord Carver to the Queen, at the coronation of James II on 23 April 1685.  On 12 May following he took his seat in the House of Lords, but soon afterwards went aboard in disgust at the revival of arbitrary power, and an audience of the Prince of Orange, was made a party to his designs. Returning to England, he raised a troop of horse in Nottinghamshire, and joined the prince in his landing.  At his coronation, 11 April 1689, he carried St Edward’s staff, and the same year was made Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard and Lord-Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire.  He attended the King to Ireland in June 1690, and fought at the Boyne and before Limerick.  In the winter of 1697-8 he was at Venice on an extraordinary mission to obtain the release of certain English seamen detained in the galley of the republic. On his return to England, Manchester was sworn of the Privy Council and in the following year succeeded Lord Jersey as Ambassador Extraordinary at the court of France. From 4 Jan 1701-2 to 15 May following, Manchester held the Seal of Secretary of State for the Northern Department.  In 1707 he was again Ambassador Extraordinary at Venice, to negotiate the adhesion of the republic to the grand alliance. On the accession of George I, he was re-sworn of the Privy Council, to which he was first appointed Lord of the Bedchamber and on 30 April 1719 was created Duke of Manchester.  He died on 20 Jan 1721-2, and was buried at Kimbolton.   back to index

CAVENDISH, WILLIAM, first duke of Devonshire. The commotion of the civil wars rendered his early education some what, irregular, and after being brought up chiefly under the eye of the countess of Devonshire, his grandmother, he was sent to travel aboard with Dr Killigrew, afterwards master of the Savoy. Upon his return he was chosen one of four young noblemen to bear Charles II’s train at his coronation 23 April 1661, and in the same year was elected Member of Parliament for Derby. Next year he went to Ireland, and on 27 Oct, married at Kilkenny Lady Mary, second daughter of James, Duke or Ormonde. In 1663 he returned to England, and was on 23 Sept, created an MA at Oxford, along with the Earls of Suffolk and Bath, by special command of the chancellor, who was then with the King and court of Oxford. In 1669 he went with Mr Montagu, afterwards Duke of Montagu, upon an embassy to France, and was there engaged in an affair which attracted attention throughout Europe. Being on the stage at the opera he was insulted by three French Officers of the King’s Guards. One he struck, whereon they drew, and he, throwing himself against the side scenes, stood on his guard, but would have been overborne had not a Swiss of Mr Montagu’s taken him round the waist, and thrown him over into the pit for safety. In falling his arm was torn so that he bore the scars to his death. His assailants were arrested, but were liberated on his intercession. Cavendish engaged himself in parliamentary opposition to the court party. When parliament met in 1676, after a prorogation of fifteen months, it was he who moved that the act of Edward III for annual parliaments should be laid on the table, arguing that by the prorogation parliament was ipso facto dissolved. In 1677 he promoted a bill for recalling the English forces out of the French King’s service, which was read a second time 22 Feb., revived in committee 21 May, and passed 27 May. In 1684 he succeeded his father in the earldom, and on the accession of James he was one of the peers who proposed to discuss the speech from the throne.  After Monmouth’s rebellion he withdrew from court. From some years Devonshire remained in strict retirement, and occupied himself with the erection of Chatsworth. The work began 12 April 1687, and lasted till 1706; in his retirement he was secretly engaged in concerting plans for bringing in the Prince of Orange. James, suspecting his loyalty, first sent to summon him to court; the earl excused himself, and his kinsman, the Duke of Newcastle, whom the King sent later, could not change his purpose. In May 1687 Dijkvelt left England with letters from Devonshire, Bedford, Shrewsbury, Nottingham, and the Hydes, asking William to come over to the nation’s assistance. Communications were usually kept up through Edward Russell and Henry Sidney, who were now in London, now in Holland, and through Vice-Admiral Herbert, who remained at the Hague. After the birth of James’s son, in 1688, the invitations became more urgent, and Devonshire was one of the Whig lords who signed the cipher letter of 30 June. He was now reconciled to Danby, whom he owned he had misjudged, and with him, Lord Delamere, and Mr D’Arcy, he laid plans for a rising, The meetings took place at Sir Henry Goodrick’s in Yorkshire, and at Whittington, near Scaresdale in Derbyshire, in a farmhouse, chamber, long known in the country-side as the ‘plotting parlour.’ At first it was designed that Williams should land in the north, Devonshire was to secure Nottingham, and Danby, York. The attack on York was to precede that of Nottingham the former having a governor and a small garrison, who might take alarm if Nottingham an open town, were first occupied. However, on hearing of Williams’s landing at Brixham, the Earl at once moved on Derby, and being always one who kept on terms with the leaders of the middle class, invited the mayor and gentry to join him, and read to them his ‘Declaration in Defence of the Protestant Religion.’ For a short time he was in danger; a courier arrived with a letter in his boot-heel announcing James’s flight and Williams’s march on London, but it was hardly legible; the news was not credited, and James’s party took heart. The Earl, however, presently moved on Nottingham, and was well supported, and there he issued a proclamation justifying the rising and drilled troops. He raised a regiment of horse, afterwards the 4^th regiment. On 25 Dec, the lords assembled at Westminster, and Devonshire was forward in procuring the address to the Prince of Orange, praying him to carry on the government till a convention could meet. The convention met 22 Jan, 1688-9, and the earl argued against Clarendon and Rochester for James’s deposition and for a King, not merely a regent. This was rejected whereupon he and forty others entered their protest, and finally it was carried. He now received the favours of the new sovereign. On 14 Feb, he was sworn of the Privy Council, on 16 March appointed Lord-lieutenant of Derbyshire and Lord-steward of the Household; he was elected a Knight of the Garter on 3 April and installed on 14 May. At the coronation on 11 April he acted for the day as Lord High Steward of England, and bore the crown, while his daughter bore the Queen’s train. He was Lord-lieutenant of Nottinghamshire 1692-4. On 12 May 1694 he was created Duke of Devonshire and Marquis of Hartington, and having been omitted from the commission of the peace on succeeding his father in the title, was now appointed a justice in eyre, and in 1697 was elected recorder of Nottingham. When William quitted England, after Queen Mary’s death in 1694, the Duke of Devonshire was named one of the lord’s justices for the administration of the kingdom, and he and Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, were the only lords who held that appointment on all occasions of the King’s absence during the whole seven years of its existence. In 1701 on William’s death and Anne’s accession was confirmed in all his offices, acted with the Duke of Somerset as supporter to Prince George, at the King’s funeral, and was again Lord high Steward at Anne’s coronation. He actively supported the protestant succession and the French war, and having been a commissioner in 1703 to negotiate the union of England and Scotland, without success, he at last, in 1706, brought that great measure to a successful issue. In April, 1705 he attended the Queen to Cambridge, and there, with his eldest son, was created an LLD., but being borne down with dropsy, gout and the stone, and his disease proving incurable, died professing repentance and firm faith, at Devonshire House, Piccadilly, 18 Aug, 1707. He was attended on his deathbed by the Bishop of Ely. The autopsy proved stone and strangury to have caused his death. His body was conveyed in great state by the Strand to the city, and thence to Derby, where it was buried, 1 Sept, at Allhallows Church.  back to index

Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, was a statesman and supporter of Charles II, who was created Baron Townshend in 1661 and Viscount Townshend of Raynham in 1682. The old Norfolk family of Townshend, to which he belonged, is descended from Sir Roger Townshend of Raynham. Charles Townshend had Tory sympathies when he took his seat in the House of Lords, but his views changed, and he began to take an active part in politics as a Whig. For a few years after the accession of Queen Anne he remained without office, but in 1707 he was appointed Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, having in the previous year been summoned to the Privy Council. He was ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the States-General, taking part during these years in the negotiations which preceded the conclusion of the Treaty of Utrecht. After his recall to England he was busily occupied in attacking the proceedings of the new Tory ministry. Townshend quickly won the favour of George I, and in 1714, the new king selected him as Secretary of State for the Northern Department. The policy of Townshend and his colleagues, after they had crushed the Jacobite rising of 1715, both at home and abroad, was one of peace. The secretary disliked the interference of England in the war between Sweden and Denmark, and he promoted the conclusion of defensive alliances between England and France. After an illustrious political career Townshend retired in 1730. His remaining years were passed at Raynham, where he interested himself in agriculture and was responsible for introducing into England the cultivation of turnips on a large scale carrying out many agricultural experiments at Raynham, and for these he became known as Turnip Townshend. Although a figure of some fun, his agricultural reforms were, indeed, quite helpful.   back to index

Lord Berkeley of Stratton   
36th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1743-1746

Lt Col Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley was the son of Vice-Admiral James Berkeley, 3rd Earl of Berkeley and Lady Louisa Lennox. He was born on 18 February 1716.  He married Elizabeth Drax, daughter of Henry Drax and Elizabeth Ernle, on 7 May 1744.  He died on 9 January 1755 at age 38.  He was buried on 17 January 1755 at Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England.  His will (dated 18 December 1751) was probated in February 1755.  He gained the rank of Ensign in November 1734 in the service of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards.  He succeeded to the title of 12th Lord Berkeley [E., 1421] on 17 August 1736, by writ.   He succeeded to the title of 4th Earl of Berkeley, co. Gloucester [E., 1679] on 17 August 1736.  He succeeded to the title of 4th Viscount Dursley, co. Gloucester [E., 1679] on 17 August 1736.   He gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1737 in the service of the 2nd Regiment Foot Guards. He held the office of Constable of St. Briavet's Castle between 1737 and 1755.  He held the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire between 1737 and 1755.  He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Thistle (KT.) on 9 June 1739. back to index

Being researched.... 

Hugh Boscawen b; 20 March 1707 d: 4 Feb 1782.  2nd Viscount.

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The 4th Earl of Aylesford died in 1812, but Louisa did not die until 1832.  Reporting the Earl’s death, a leading periodical, “The Gentleman’s Magazine”, recorded how “after a hearty supper and the usual performance of his devotions, he went to bed and was, in the course of the night, attacked by gout in the stomach, which caused his death”.

Incidentally, from the creation of the 1st Earl of Aylesford in 1714 until the death of the 7th Earl in 1885, all were christened Heneage Finch.  back to index

42nd Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1804 only

Between 1789 and 1793 Pelham paid many prolonged visits to the continent. According to Lord Malmesbury, he was entrusted in June and July 1791 with letters to Lafayette and Barnave in Paris, interceding for the life of the King and Queen; but he prudently burnt them. In the same year he visited Naples, where he dined with the King, and met Sir William and Lady Hamilton. In 1793, after a tour in Switzerland, he spent part of August in the Duke of York’s quarters in Flanders. Early in 1794 Pelham definitely threw in his lot with the old whigs, who supported Pitt’s foreign policy. Next year he took office under Pitt, becoming Chief Secretary to Lord Camden, the Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, who had replaced Lord Fitzwilliam. Before his arrival in Dublin in March Fitzgibbon, the Lord Chancellor, wrote to him; ‘I do not know a man who could come over here that would be so likely to succeed in composing the country as you.’ Though opposed to catholic emancipation, Pelham wrote t a correspondent, when on his way to Ireland; ‘I will not lend my hand to a job for a clique on either side of the water. Resurgat Respublica, ruat Pitt, Beresford &c.’ He had been elected member for Clogher in 1790, and represented that place till 1797, when he transferred himself to Armagh, and remained the representative of that city till the union. After a severe illness he left Ireland in May 1798, on the eve of the rebellion. Castlereagh took his place temporarily, but Pelham never resumed it, and finally resigned in November. The King said of Pelham’s withdrawal that it was ‘the greatest loss and greatest disappointment he could have experienced.’

On 22 Jan, 1801 Pelham moved in an animated speech, the appointment of Addington as speaker. On 4 April he was voted Chairman of the Secret Committee on the affairs of Ireland. After having declined the offer of the secretary ship at war, the St. Petersburg embassy and the presidency of the board of control, Pelham joined the Addington ministry as home secretary in 1801. In July the same year on his father’s promotion to the Earldom of Chichester, he took his seat in the House of Lords under his father’s former title of Baron Pelham of Stanmer.

He told Lord Malmesbury he only joined the cabinet by the express wish of the King. His relations with Addington were never smooth. He resented the withdrawal of colonial affairs from his department, and had differences with the prime minister both on foreign policy and Irish affairs. As home secretary Pelham had the superintendence of Irish affairs, and made vain efforts to draw all the Irish patronage into the hands of the home office. In the House of Lords Pelham took the lead in defending the peace of Amiens; but he made a protest in the cabinet, in March 1802m against signing the definitive treaty in the same terms as the preliminaries. He did not resign, because he agreed with his colleagues on all other points. Malmesbury records in his diary a little later; ‘Pelham seems to have little influence with his colleagues, or not to consult with them, or be consulted by them.’ When in 1803, negotiations were opened by Addington with Pitt, Pelham offered to give up his office in order to facilitate matters; but as recompense he expected the chancellorship of the duchy of Lancaster for life. The negotiations came to nothing; but Addington took advantage of Pelham’s offer to remove him in July 1803 from the home office to the Duchy, ‘subject to the usual contingencies,’ On 11 Sept, 1803 Pelham wrote to the King, detailing his grievances against Addington, Malmesbury and Lord Minto both thought Pelham badly treated.  Pelham was deprived of the duchy of Lancaster on Pitt’s re-entry into office in May 1804. When Pelham delivered up the seals, the King, without consulting Pitt, gave him the stick of the Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, adding ‘It will be less a sinecure than formerly, as I intend living more with my great officers.’ Pelham soon resigned that post, and affected to believe that Pitt had entrapped him into it. In January 1805, on the death of his father, Pelham became second Earl of Chichester. From May 1807 till 1823 he was joint postmaster-general, and from 1823 till his death was sole holder of the office. In 1815-17 he was president of the Royal Institution. At the coronation of George IV in July 1821 he was ‘assistant carver.’ He died on 4 July, 1826.  back to index

Being researched....

George Parker b: 1755 d: 1842.  4th Earl.
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44th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1830-1834

Being researched....

Ulick John de Burgh b: 1802 d: 1874.  14th Earl, 1st Marquess (1825)

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A

After being appointed Lord Lieutenant of Armagh in 1832 and a Peer of the United Kingdom (Baron Worlingham) in 1835, Gosford was appointed Governor in Chief of British North America. He served as a royal commissioner inquiring into the state of affairs in Lower Canada (now Quebec) and recommended a policy of “conciliation without concession” toward French-Canadians. By 1837 he recognized the failure of his conciliation policy, and he resigned that November, leaving Canada just before the French-Canadian rebellion in Lower Canada (1838). In the House of Lords, he unsuccessfully opposed the Act of Union (1840), which united Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec).    back to index

aptain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1841-1846

Being researched....

James Robert George Graham b: 1792 d: 1861.

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Kindly Submitted by The 8th Earl Cadogan.

aptain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1889-1892 and 1895-1896 respectively

Currently being researched by Sylvia Countess Limerick CBE the widow of the 6th Earl of Limerick

William Hale John Charles Pery b: 1840 d: 1896.  3rd Earl.




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Being researched.... 

William Edwards b: 1835 d: 1896 4th Baron.








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J

William eighth Earl Waldegrave, brother of the above, served in the Royal Navy, was Vice-Admiral of the Fleet, was present at the siege of Acre, and was given a C.B. and a good pension as a reward for his services on that occasion, His son William Fredrick, Viscount Chew ton, Scots Fusilier Guards, led his company into action at the Battle of the Alma, 1854, and fell far in advance, covered with wounds, of which he died. Viscountess Chewton, his widow, was a Woman of the Bedchamber to Her Majesty Queen Victoria from 1885 to1901  back to index

Lord Allendale unsuccessfully contested Wakefield in 1885 as a Liberal and he was known as 'Bonny Boy Beaumont.' He served as MP for Hexham from 1895 until 1907, after he had defeated the Conservative candidate in the General Election of 1906. Between 1905 and 1907 he was Liberal Whip for the Government, and he was appointed Vice-Chamberlain to King Edward VII's household. He served as Captain of His Majesty's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard from 1907 to 1911 when he was created 1st Viscount. This brought him a position as Lord in Waiting to King George V until 1916. It was his commitment to public life and politics which drew him away from Bretton for long periods. He was a JP and deputy Lord Lieutenant for Northumberland and the West Riding. He died at Bywell Hall in December 1923. His wife, Lady Alexandrina Vane-Tempest, daughter of the 5th Marquis of Londonderry, died in 1945. Wentworth Henry Canning Beaumont succeeded him as 2nd Viscount. He was awarded the Military Cross after service in the 2nd Life Guards during the First World War and later held military positions as Hon. Colonel of the 4th Battalion Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) and Lieutenant Colonel and Brevet Colonel of the Northumberland Hussars Yeomanry. He was married to Violet Lucy Emily Seely. Although he did not commit himself to a parliamentary career he was president of the Northern Liberal Federation from 1925 to 1949 and Chairman of the Liberal party for a time. The Viscount and Viscountess redecorated nearly every room of Bretton Hall in the 1920s and they used it as the principal one of their five residences. Viscount Allendale was appointed Lord in waiting to King George V, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II and was permanent Lord in Waiting until his death. He entertained his fellow Lords in Waiting together with many other titled people, but just before the war Bretton Hall was mainly used for shooting parties and gatherings for race meetings. By the 1940s the family were mainly in residence at Bywell Hall. During his lifetime he was showered with honours amongst which were Commander of the British Empire, Commander of the Bath, and Knight of the Garter. At the Coronation of the Queen he was one of the four Garter Knights to hold the canopy for the Queen's anointing.  Viscount Allendale sold Bretton Hall to the West Riding County Council in 1948 ending the estate's 700-year old history. He died in 1956 to be succeeded by Wentworth Hubert Charles Beaumont as 3rd Viscount. The new Viscount sold further land in 1958 and this ended the family's interest in Bretton Hall. The Viscount died in December 2002, and his son the Hon. Wentworth Peter Ismay Beaumont became the 4th Viscount. back to index

Heir – son Hon, George Henry Compton, Loch, Lieut, 11th Hussars born 3 February 1916. back to index

Being Researched....

Malcolm Shepherd b: 1918 d: 2001.  2nd Baron.

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P

Who's Who entry: Peter Richard Legh, 4th Baron Newton of Newton-in-Makerfield, Co Lancaster, cr1892, JP was born 6 April 1915; er son of 3rd Baron Newton, TD, JP, DL and Hon, Helen Meysey-Thompson (died 1958): succeeded father 1960; married 1948 Priscilla, youngest daughter of late Captain John Egerton-Warburton and widow of William Matthew Palmer, Viscount Wolmer (son of 3rd Earl of Selborne, CH, PC) two sons; Educated Eton; Christ Church, Oxford (MA), 2nd Lt Grenadier Guards (SR) 1937; Captain 1941; Major, 1945. Chairman East Hampshire Young Conservatives, 1949-50. MP (C) Petersfied Division of Hants, October 1951-June 1960; PPS to Fin. Secretary to Treasury, 1952-1953; Assistant Government Whip 1953-55; a Lord Comr of Treasury, 1955-57; Treasurer of the Household, 1959-60; Captain Yeomen of the Guard and Government Assistant Chief Whip, 1960-62; (joint) Parliamentary Secretary., Minister of Heath, 1962-1964; Minister of State for education and Science, April-October 1964. JP 1951; CC Hampshire, 1949-52 and 1954-55. Died 16^th June 1992.  Heir – son Hon. Richard Thomas Legh born 11 January 1950; married 1978, Rosemary Whitfoot Clarke, younger daughter of Herbert Clarke, Eastbourne; one son one daughter.  back to index 

Bertram Stanley Mitford Bowyer, 2nd Baron Denham of Western Underwood, cr 1937, KBE 1991; PC 1981 BT 1660, of Durham; BT 1933, of Western Underwood; Captain of the Gentlemen at Arms (Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords), 1979-91; an Extra Lord-in-Waiting to the Queen since 1998. Born 3 October 1927, son of 1st Baron and Hon. Daphne Freeman-Mitford (died 1996), 4th daughter of 1st Baron Redesdale; succeeded father 1948. married 1956. Jean only daughter of Kenneth McCorquodale, Fambridge Hall, White Notley, Essex, 3 sons one daughter. Educated Eton King’s College, Cambridge.  Member Westminster CC, 1959-61. A Lord-in-Waiting to the Queen 1961-64 and 1970-71; Opposition Junior Whip 1964-70; Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard 1974-74; Opposition Deputy Chief Whip, 1974-78; Opposition Chief Whip, 1978-79.; Elected Member House of Lords, 1999-Countryside Comr, 1993-99. Dep. Pres, British Field Sports Soc, 1992-98. Publication; The Man who Lost his Shadow, 1979.  Two Thyrdes 1983.  Foxhunt 1998.  Black Rod 1997. Heir – son Hon, Richard Grenville George Bowyer born 8 February 1959 married in 1998, Eleanor (marriage disolved 1993), only daughter of A Sharpe. Marriage 1996, Dagmar only daughter of Karel and Jaroslava Bozek, Breslaw, Czech Republic. back to index

Richard Fletcher-Vane, second Baron cr 1964; (William) Richard Fletcher-Vane; DL Member (C) North West Region, England, European Parliament since 1999; Born 31 July 1951, eldest son of 1st Baron Inglewood. TD and Mary (died 1982), eldest daughter of Major Sir Richard George Proby, 1st Bt, MC; S father 1989; married 1986, Cressida, youngest daughter of late Desmond Pemberton-Pigott, CMG; one son two daughters.  Educated Eton Trinity College, Cambridge (MA); Cumbria College of Agriculture and Forestry, ARICS. Called to the Bar, Lincoln’s Inn 1975.  Member Lake District Special Planning Board, 1984-90 (Chairman Develt Control Committee, 1984-89).  NW Water Authority, 1987-89 Contested (C) Houghton and Washington, 1983; Durham, European Parliament 1984; MEP (C) Cumbria and Lancashire N, 1989-94; contested (C) Cumbria and Lancashire N, Eur Parly Elecns, 1994. Cons spokesman on legal affairs, EP, 1989-94; Deputy Chief Whip EDG 1992-94. Chief Whip 1994. A Lord in Waiting (Government Whip) 1994-95; Captain of HM Yeomen of the Guard (Deputy Chief Whip), 1995; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State DNH 1995-97; elected Member H of L 1999.  DL Cumbria 1993.  Heir- son Hon Henry William Frederick Fletcher-Vane born 24 December 1990.  back to index

Bryan Davies was educated at Redditch High School, Worcs: University College London (BA History): Institute of Education (PGCE): London School of Economics (BSc Economics).  Labour MP for Enfield North 1974-79 and for Oldham Central and Royton 1992-97.  He was Opposition Spokesman for Education 1993-95, Education and Employment 1995-97 before being raised to the Peerage in 1997 as Baron Davies of Oldham, of Broxbourne in the County of Hertfordshire.  He has an Honorary Doctorate form Middlesex University in 1996 and was a Member of the Medical Research Council between 1997-79.  Lord Davies was appointed Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Lords in 2003, a position which also carries the automatic position of Captain of The Queen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard (The Chief Whip  automatically becomes the Captain of The Gentlemen At Arms).  He was Government Spokesman for the Home Office 2000-02 Education and Skill 2001-03, and currently Government Spokesman for Culture, Media and Sport 2001-  and for the Transport 2002.  Between 1999-2000 Lord Davies was President of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).  Lord Davies' political interests include Economic Policy, Employment, Training, Education, Arts and Transport.  When the Baron find the time for recreation his interests are Sport and Literature. 
Details are correct as of DODS 2006 Edition.  back to index