Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland

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Prince William Augustus
Duke of Cumberland
Portrait by Joshua Reynolds, 1758
Titles
HRH The Duke of Cumberland HRH Prince William Augustus of Wales
Royal House	House of Hanover
Father	George II
Mother	Caroline of Ansbach
Born	15 April 1721 Leicester House, London
Died	31 October 1765 London

The Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (15 April 1721 - 31 October 1765) was a younger son of George II and Queen Caroline, and a noted military leader.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Military career 2.1 Battle of Fontenoy 2.2 "The Forty-Five" 2.3 In Scotland 2.4 Peacetime 2.5 The Seven Years' War 3 Later life 4 Titles, styles, honours and arms 4.1 Titles 5 Honours 6 Legacy 6.1 Biography 6.2 Trivia 7 References

[edit] Early life

He was born in London, where his parents had moved after his grandfather, George I, was invited to take the British throne. At only four years old, he was created Duke of Cumberland (as well as Marquess of Berkhampstead, Earl of Kennington, Viscount Trematon and Baron Alderney). The young prince was educated well, becoming his parents' favourite (so much so that his father would later consider ways of making him his heir in preference over his eldest brother, Frederick, Prince of Wales). At Hampton Court Palace, apartments were designed specially for him by William Kent.

[edit] Military career

From childhood, he showed physical courage and ability. He was intended, by the King and Queen, for the office of Lord High Admiral, and, in 1740, he sailed, as a volunteer, in the fleet under the command of Sir John Norris, but he quickly became dissatisfied with the Navy, and, early in 1742, he began an Army career. In December 1742, he became a Major-General, and, the following year, he first saw active service in Persia. George II and the "martial boy" shared in the glory of the Battle of Dettingen (27 June 1743), and Cumberland, who was wounded in the action, was reported as a hero in Britain, thus founding his military popularity. After the battle he was made Lieutenant-General.

[edit] Battle of Fontenoy

In 1745, having been made Captain-General of the British land forces, at home and in the field, the Duke was again in Flanders, as Commander-in-Chief of the allied British, Hanoverian, Austrian and Dutch troops. Advancing to the relief of Tournay, which was besieged by Marshal Saxe, he engaged the great general, in the Battle of Fontenoy, on 11 May 1745. Had the Duke been supported by the allies in his marvellously courageous attack on the superior positions of the French army, Fontenoy would probably not have been recorded as a defeat for Britain. Cumberland himself was in the midst of the column which penetrated the French centre, and his conduct of the inevitable retreat was unusually cool and skilled. The brigade which he commanded to capture the redoubt included the Scottish Highland Black Watch regiment, which, in 1743, had been taken away from its previous role, policing its home area, to join the forces on the continent. The courage of the Highlanders in the battle greatly impressed the Duke of Cumberland, and, shortly afterwards, in the autumn of 1745, the Black Watch was transferred to the South of England for defence against possible French invasion while the British were preoccupied further north.

British Royalty
House of Hanover
George II
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Anne, Princess of Orange
Princess Amelia Sophia
Princess Caroline Elizabeth
William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland
Mary, Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel
Louise, Queen of Denmark

[edit] "The Forty-Five"

Despite being a strict disciplinarian, the young Duke was an inspiration to his men and created a very lively esprit de corps. As a general, he had courage and resolution; while he sometimes lacked wisdom and tact, he displayed an energy and power in military affairs which pointed him out to the British people as the one commander upon whom they could rely to put a decisive stop to the successful career of Charles Edward Stuart, known as the Young Pretender, in the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Sir John Ligonier wrote of him at this time, Ou je suis fort trompé ou il se forme là un grand capitaine.

Recalled from Flanders, Cumberland immediately proceeded with his preparations for quelling the insurrection. He joined the midland army under Ligonier, and immediately began pursuit of the enemy, but the Stuart's retreat from Derby disrupted his plans, and it was not until they had reached Penrith, and the advanced portion of his army had been repulsed on Clifton Moor, that Cumberland became aware of just how hopeless an attempt to overtake the retreating Highlanders would then be. Carlisle having been retaken, he retired to London, until the news of the defeat of Hawley at Falkirk roused again the fears of the English people, and centred the hopes of Britain on the Duke. He was appointed commander of the forces in Scotland.

[edit] In Scotland

Arriving in Edinburgh on 30 January 1746, he at once proceeded in search of the Young Pretender. He made a detour to Aberdeen, where he spent some time training the well-equipped forces now under his command for the peculiar nature of the warfare in which they were about to engage. What the old and experienced generals of his time had failed even to understand, the young Duke of Cumberland, still only twenty-four years of age, accomplished easily. He prepared his army to withstand the aggressive charges on which all Highland successes depended and he reorganised the forces and restored their discipline and self-confidence in a few weeks.

On 8 April 1746, he set out from Aberdeen, towards Inverness, and, on 16 April, he fought the decisive Battle of Culloden, in which the forces of the Pretender were completely destroyed. Cumberland told his troops to take notice that the Jacobite enemy's orders were to give no quarter to the "troops of the Elector", and they took the hint to reciprocate; there is no evidence of any such orders. On account of the merciless severity with which the fugitives were treated, Cumberland received the nickname of "Butcher" from some, and he is still most commonly known to Scottish Highlanders as "Butcher Cumberland". This taunt was used for political purposes in England, and Cumberland's own brother, the Prince of Wales (who had been refused permission to take a military role on his father's behalf), seems to have encouraged the virulent attacks upon the Duke. Like Oliver Cromwell in Ireland, Cumberland dared to act in a way which would be held against him by some for the rest of his life, and terrorised an obstinate and unyielding enemy into submission. How real the danger of a protracted guerrilla war in the Highlands was may be judged from the explicit declarations of Jacobite leaders that they intended to continue the struggle. As it was, the war came to an end almost at once, and most of the populations of Scotland, England, and the colonies, however, lionised him as their deliverer from the Jacobite menace - for instance, he received an honorary degree from the University of Glasgow.

Cumberland preserved the strictest discipline in his camp. He was inflexible in the execution of what he deemed to be his duty, without favour to any man. At the same time, he exercised his influence in favour of clemency in special cases that were brought to his notice. Some years later, James Wolfe spoke of the Duke as "for ever doing noble and generous actions".

The Duke's victorious efforts were acknowledged by his being voted an income of £40,000 per annum, in addition to his revenue as a Prince of the Royal House. The Duke took no part in the Flanders campaign of 1746, but, in 1747, he again opposed the still-victorious Marshal Saxe and received a heavy defeat at the Battle of Lauffeld, or Val, near Maestricht, on July 2, 1747.

[edit] Peacetime

During the ten years of peace from 1748, Cumberland occupied himself chiefly with his duties as Captain-General, and the result of his work was clearly shown in the conduct of the army in the Seven Years' War. His unpopularity, which had steadily increased since Culloden, interfered greatly with his success in politics, and when the death of the Prince of Wales brought the latter's son, a minor, next in succession to the throne, the Duke was not able to secure for himself the contingent regency, which was vested in the Dowager Princess of Wales, who considered him an enemy.

[edit] The Seven Years' War

In 1757, the Seven Years' War having broken out, Cumberland was placed at the head of a motley army of allies led by Great Britain to defend Hanover. At the Battle of Hastenbeck, near Hamelin, on 26 July 1757, he was defeated by the superior forces of d'Estrées. In September of the same year, his defeat had almost become disgrace. Driven from point to point, and at last hemmed in by the French, under Richelieu, he capitulated at Klosterzeven, on 8 September 1757, agreeing to evacuate Hanover. He played a major role as second-in-command to Prince Ferdinand later in the war.

[edit] Later life

His disgrace was completed on his return to England by his father, George II's, refusal to be bound by the terms of the Duke's agreement. In chagrin and disappointment he retired into private life, after having formally resigned the public offices he held. In his retirement, he made no attempt to justify his conduct, applying in his own case the discipline he had enforced in others. For a few years, he lived quietly at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor, and subsequently in London, taking but little part in politics. He did much, however, to displace the Bute ministry and that of Grenville, and endeavoured to restore Pitt to office. Public opinion had now set in his favour, and he became almost as popular as he had been in his youth. After the accession of his nephew, George III, he vied with his sister-in-law, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, for the role of regent in times of emergency. Shortly before his death, the Duke was requested to open negotiations with Pitt for a return to power. This was, however, unsuccessful.

The Duke passed away, on Upper Grosvenor Street in London, on October 31, 1765 and is buried beneath the floor of the nave of the Henry VII Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey.

[edit] Titles, styles, honours and arms

[edit] Titles

• 1721-1725: His Royal Highness Prince William Augustus of Wales
• 1725-1765: His Royal Highness The Duke of Cumberland

[edit] Honours

British Honours

• KG: Knight of the Garter, 1730
• KB: Knight of the Bath, 1725
• PC: Privy Counsellor, 1742

Academic

• 1751-1765: Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin

[edit] Legacy

The Scottish Highland town of Fort Augustus takes its name from a British Army fort which was named in his honour.

Many places in the American colonies were named after him, including the Cumberland River, the Cumberland Gap, the Cumberland Plateau, and the Cumberland Mountains, in addition to several counties and towns named "Cumberland" in the mid-18th century.

[edit] Biography

A Life of the Duke of Cumberland by Andrew Henderson was published in 1766, and anonymous (Richard Rolt) Historical Memoirs appeared in 1767. See especially A. N. Campbell Maclachlan, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1876).

[edit] Trivia

In 2006, he was selected by the BBC History Magazine as the 18th century's worst Briton. (BBC)

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Culloden - The Black Watch
• Ascanius; or, the Young Adventurer

Military Offices
Preceded by: Vacant	Captain-General 1744 - 1757	Succeeded by: Vacant
Academic Offices
Preceded by: The Duke of Chandos	Chancellor of the University of St Andrews 1746 - 1765	Succeeded by: The Earl of Kinnoull
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by: New Creation	Duke of Cumberland 1726 - 1765	Succeeded by: Extinct