| Prince William[1] | |
|---|---|
| Duke of Cumberland | |
| Portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1758 | |
| Full name | |
| William Augustus | |
| House | House of Hanover |
| Father | George II |
| Mother | Caroline of Ansbach |
| Born | 26 April 1721 (New Style) Leicester House, London |
| Died | 31 October 1765 (aged 44) London |
| Burial | Westminster Abbey, London |
Prince William (William Augustus;[1] 26 April 1721 [N.S.] – 31 October 1765), was a younger son of George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach, and Duke of Cumberland from 1726. He is generally best remembered for his role in putting down the Jacobite Rising at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and as such is also known as "Butcher" Cumberland. After Culloden, he went on to a largely unsuccessful military career, and following the Convention of Klosterzeven in 1757, he never held active military command, and switched his attentions to politics and horse-racing.
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William was born in Leicester House, in Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square), Westminster, London, where his parents had moved after his grandfather, George I, accepted the invitation to ascend the British throne. His godparents included the King and Queen in Prussia (his paternal aunt), but they apparently did not take part in person and were presumably represented by proxy.[2] On 27 July 1726,[3] at only four-years-old, he was created Duke of Cumberland, Marquess of Berkhamstead in the County of Hertford, Earl of Kennington in the County of Surrey, Viscount of Trematon in the County of Cornwall, and Baron of the Isle of Alderney.
The young prince was educated well; his mother appointed Edmond Halley as a tutor.[4] Another of his tutors was his mother's favourite Andrew Fountaine. At Hampton Court Palace, apartments were designed specially for him by William Kent.
William's elder brother Frederick, Prince of Wales, proposed dividing the king's dominions. Frederick would get Britain, and William Hanover. This proposal came to nothing.[5]
From childhood, he showed physical courage and ability, and became his parents' favourite.[6] He was enrolled in the 2nd Foot Guards and made a Knight of the Bath aged four.[7] 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 Germany. 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 leg by a musket ball, was reported as a hero in Britain, thus founding his military popularity. After the battle he was made a Lieutenant General.
In 1745 Cumberland was made Captain-General of the British land forces and in Flanders became Commander-in-Chief of the allied British, Hanoverian, Austrian and Dutch troops despite his inexperience. He initially planned to take the offensive against the French, in a move he hoped would lead to the capture of Paris, but was persuaded by his advisors that this was impossible given the vast numerical superiority of the enemy.[8] During this time he was guided by the experienced French-born General, Lord Ligonier who convinced him that the Allies should act on the defensive.
As it became clear that the French intention was to take Tournai, Cumberland advanced to the relief of the town, which was besieged by Marshal Saxe. In the resulting Battle of Fontenoy on 11 May 1745 the Allies were defeated by the French. Saxe had picked the battleground on which to confront the British, and filled the nearby woods with French marksmen. Cumberland ignored the threat of the woods when drawing up his battle plans, and instead concentrated on seizing the town of Fontenoy and attacking the main French army nearby. Despite a concerted Anglo-Hanoverian attack on the French centre, which led many to believe the Allies had won, the failure to clear the woods and of the Dutch forces to capture Fontenoy forced Cumberland's force onto the retreat. Following the battle Cumberland was frequently criticised for his tactics, particularly the failure to occupy the woods.[9] In the wake of the battle Cumberland was forced to retreat to Brussels and was unable to prevent the fall of Ghent, Bruges and Ostend.[10]
As the leading British general of the day, he was chosen to put a decisive stop to Charles Edward Stuart, known as the Young Pretender, in the Jacobite Rising of 1745. His appointment was popular, and caused morale to soar amongst the British public and troops.[11]
Recalled from Flanders, Cumberland proceeded with preparations for quelling the insurrection. The Jacobite army had advanced southwards into England, hoping that English Jacobites would rise and join them. However after only receiving limited support such as the Manchester Regiment, the Jacobites decided to withdraw to Scotland.
Cumberland joined the Midland army under Ligonier, and began pursuit of the enemy, as the Stuart's retreated northwards from Derby. On reaching Penrith, the advanced portion of his army was repulsed on Clifton Moor, and Cumberland became aware that an attempt to overtake the retreating Highlanders would be hopeless. Carlisle was retaken, and he was recalled to London, where preparations were in hand to meet a suspected French invasion. The defeat of his replacement as commander, Henry Hawley, at Falkirk roused the fears of the English people in January 1746, and the hopes of Britain were centred on the Duke. He was appointed commander of the forces 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 next stage of the conflict in which they were about to engage. 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.
On 8 April 1746, he set out from Aberdeen for Inverness, and, on 16 April, he fought the decisive Battle of Culloden, in which the forces of the Young Pretender were completely destroyed. Cumberland ordered his troops to show no quarter against any remaining Jacobite rebels (French Army personnel, including those who were British- or Irish-born, were treated as legitimate combatants). The British Army then embarked upon the so-called 'pacification' of Jacobite areas of the highlands: all those the troops believed to be rebels were killed, as were some non-combatants, 'rebellious' settlements were burned and livestock was confiscated on a large scale. Some in the highland Jacobite regions survived the redcoats' ravaging of the countryside only to starve the following winter. This collective punishment was not meted out to those areas of the lowlands (principally in the north east) where Jacobitism had also been strong.
"Butcher" was a taunt, first recorded in the City of London,[12] used for political purposes in England. 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. His actions did bring the war to an end almost at once, and most of the populations of Scotland, the rest of Britain, and the colonies lionised him as their deliverer from the Jacobite menace—for instance, he received an honorary degree from the University of Glasgow.[13]
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 £25,000 per annum over and above his money from the civil list.[14] A thanksgiving service was held at St Paul's Cathedral which saw the first performance of George Frideric Handel's "The Conquering Hero", composed especially for Cumberland.[15]
The Duke took no part in the Flanders campaign of 1746, during which the French made huge advances capturing Brussels and defeating the Allies at Rocoux. In 1747, Cumberland returned to the Continent and he again opposed the still-victorious Marshal Saxe and received a heavy defeat at the Battle of Lauffeld, or Val, near Maastricht, on 2 July 1747. This and the fall of Bergen-op-Zoom compelled the two sides to the negotiating table and in 1748 the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was concluded and Cumberland returned home.
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. As a compromise, the regency was vested in the Dowager Princess of Wales, who considered him an enemy, but her powers were curtailed and she was to be advised by a committee of twelve men, headed by Cumberland.[16]
He became a strong supporter of the colony of Georgia which had been founded by James Oglethorpe where ex-soldiers could settle.
In 1757, the Seven Years' War having broken out, Cumberland was placed at the head of the Army of Observation, a force of German allies paid for by Britain which intended to defend Hanover from a French attack. At the Battle of Hastenbeck, near Hamelin, on 26 July 1757, Cumberland's army was defeated by the superior forces of d'Estrées. Despite seemingly having the advantage towards the end of the battle, Cumberland's forces began to retreat. Within a short time discipline had collapsed, and Cumberland's army headed northwards in total disorder. Cumberland hoped that the Royal Navy might bring him reinforcements and supplies which would allow him to regroup and counterattack, but the British mounted an expedition to Rochefort instead, despite suggestions that it should be sent to aid Cumberland.[17]
By September 1757 Cumberland and his forces had retreated to the fortified town of Stade on the North Sea coast. The King gave him discretionary powers to negotiate a separate peace.[18] Hemmed in by the French, under Richelieu, he agreed to Convention of Klosterzeven at the Zeven monastery, on 8 September 1757.[19] The terms of the agreement, brokered by the King of Denmark, called for the disbandment of Cumberland's Army and the official occupation of much of Hanover by French forces. This left Britain's ally Prussia exposed to an attack from the west and seemingly offered the French a swift end to the war.
On Cumberland's return to London he was treated badly by his father despite the fact that he had previously been given permission to negotiate such an agreement. When they met George II remarked "Here is my son who has ruined me and disgraced himself".[20] In response, Cumberland resigned all the military and public offices he held and retired into private life.[21] In his retirement, he made no attempt to justify his conduct, applying in his own case the discipline he had enforced in others. The Convention, which was deeply unpopular in Britain, was subsequently revoked and Cumberland's former army reformed under the command of Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick who led it successfully for the remainder of the war thwarting several French attempts to attack Hanover. For a few years, he lived quietly at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor and subsequently in London, taking but little part in politics.
The Duke's final years were lived out during the first years of the reign of his nephew, George III, who acceded to the throne on the death of William's father on the 25 October 1760. The Duke was to die exactly 5 years and 5 days later at just 44, the same age his eldest brother (with whom he did not get on) and George's father, Frederick, Prince of Wales, was when he died 9 years earlier and left George as heir apparaent to his grandfather. On the latter's death, the new Prince of Wales became king and the Duke of Cumberland vied with his sister-in-law, the Dowager Princess of Wales for the role of regent in times of emergency. The Regency Bill of 1765 became a major political issue, and caused trouble for the government of George Grenville.
Cumberland took a growing interest in the new King, to such an extent that some feared he was trying to be the power behind the throne. Nevertheless, his popularity was restored in these last 5 years, as he returned to playing a bigger part in politics, and with growing influence. He did much to displace the Bute ministry and then that of Grenville, and endeavoured to restore William Pitt to office. Public opinion had now set in his favour, and he became almost as popular as he had been in his youth. Shortly before his death, Prince William was requested to open negotiations with Pitt for a return to power. This was, however, unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the Duke's health was deterorating. He had never fully recovered from his wound at Dettingen, and was obese. In August 1760, he had suffered a stroke.[22] Prince William, Duke of Cumberland died suddenly on Upper Grosvenor Street in London, on 31 October 1765, apparently from a myocardial infarction. He was buried beneath the floor of the nave of the Henry VII Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
British Honours
Academic
On 20 July 1725, as a grandchild of the sovereign, William was granted use of the arms of the realm, differenced by a label argent of five points, the centre point bearing a cross gules, the first, second, fourth and fifth each bearing a canton gules. On 30 August 1727, as a child of the sovereign, William's difference changed to a label argent of three points, the centre point bearing a cross gules.[23]
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. Prince William County, Virginia is also named for him.
In 2005 he was selected by the BBC History Magazine as the 18th century's worst Briton.[24]
There is a memorial Obelisk to the Duke's millitary services in Windsor Great park. It is inscribed "THIS OBELISK RAISED BY COMMAND OF KING GEORGE THE SECOND COMMEMORATES THE SERVICES OF HIS SON WILLIAM DUKE OF CUMBERLAND THE SUCCESS OF HIS ARMS AND THE GRATITUDE OF HIS FATHER THIS TABLET WAS INSCRIBED BY HIS MAJESTY KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH". According to a local park guide, the Obelisk was originally inscribed "Culloden" but Queen Victoria had "Culloden" removed.[25]
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) and Rex Whitworth, William Augustus Duke of Cumberland: A Life (1992).
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Prince William, Duke of Cumberland
Cadet branch of the House of Welf
Born: 15 April 1721 Died: 31 October 1765 |
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| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| New creation | Duke of Cumberland 1726–1765 |
Extinct |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by Sir Charles Wills |
Colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards 1742–1757 |
Succeeded by The Viscount Ligonier |
| Vacant | Captain-General 1744–1757 |
Vacant |
| Preceded by George Wade |
Commander-in-Chief of the Forces 1745–1757 |
Succeeded by The Viscount Ligonier |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by The Duke of Chandos |
Chancellor of the University of St Andrews 1746–1765 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Kinnoull |
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