Colonel Wellington Henry Stapleton-Cotton, 2nd Viscount Combermere (24 November 1818 – 1 December 1891) was a British soldier and Conservative politician.
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Combermere was born at Bedford, Bedfordshire, the son of Field Marshal Stapleton Stapleton-Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere, and Caroline, daughter of William Greville.[1]
Combermere served in the 1st Life Guards and achieved the rank of colonel.[1] In 1847 was returned to Parliament for Carrickfergus, a seat he held until 1857.[1][2] In 1865 he succeeded his father in the viscountcy and entered the House of Lords.
In 1844 Lord Combermere married Susan Alice, daughter of Sir George Sitwell, 2nd Baronet (1797-1853). They had two sons and two daughters. She died in August 1869. Lord Combermere survived her by 22 years and died in December 1891, aged 73, after being run over by a horse-drawn carriage. He was succeeded in the viscountcy by his eldest son, Robert.[1]
The 2nd Viscount Combermere became a posthumous celebrity in connection with "Lord Combermere's Ghost Photo", taken in 1891 by Sybell Corbett. She was Lady Combermere's sister and staying at the Abbey at that time. She set up her camera with its shutter open for one hour in the Combermere Abbey Library while the entire staff were out, attending Lord Combermere's funeral some four miles away. When the plate was developed, the transparent image of a man sitting in one of the library chairs was noticed. Many of the staff said that the image looked like the late 2nd Viscount, and the apparition happened to be sitting in Lord Combermere's favorite chair. It is thought by some that a servant might have come into the room and sat briefly in the chair, thus creating the image. This idea was refuted by members of Lord Combermere's household.[3][4] Lord Combermere's father, the 1st Viscount, had been involved in a mysterious incident himself several years earlier while serving as Governor of Barbados when he had the Chase Vault opened and carefully examined in search of an explanation for the "moving coffins" there.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Peter Kirk |
Member of Parliament for Carrickfergus 1847–1857 |
Succeeded by William Cary Dobbs |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Stapleton Stapleton-Cotton |
Viscount Combermere 1865–1891 |
Succeeded by Robert Wellington Stapleton-Cotton |
