George Orby Wombwell

Caricature by Ape in Vanity Fair (British magazine)

Sir George Orby Wombwell, 4th Baronet (23 November 1832 – 16 October 1913)[1] was a British baronet.

He was born the son of Sir George Wombwell, 3rd Baronet and educated at Eton College.

He joined the 17th Lancers in 1852 as a cornet and served as an aide-de-camp to Lord Cardigan. He was a survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade. When he had reached the guns, his horse was killed under him and he was shortly after pulled off and taken prisoner, his sword and pistols being taken from him by some Russian Lancers. He managed to escape, catch another loose horse and ride back to the British lines, hotly pursued by Russians.[2] He retired from the Army as a lieutenant in 1855, when he inherited his title and Newburgh Priory, the old seat of the Belasyses, in Coxwold, North Yorkshire, on the death of his father. Included in this estate was Over Silton Manor, where Wombwell's initials (GOW) can still be seen on one of the manor cottages, and High House, at Thornton-on-the-Hill.[3]

He was appointed High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1861.[4]

He married Lady Julia Sarah Alice Child-Villiers, daughter of George Child-Villiers, 6th Earl of Jersey and Julia Peel, on 3 September 1861. They had two sons, George (1865) and Stephen Frederick (1867) who were both killed on active service.[5] They also had two daughters, Julia Georgiana (1862), who married firstly Vesey Dawson, 2nd Earl of Dartrey in 1890 and secondly, late in life, John St Aubyn, 2nd Baron St Levan .[6][7] and Cecilia Clementina (1864) who married William Menzies.

At his death he was the last surviving officer of the Charge of the Light Brigade and was buried in Coxwold churchyard. His title and 12,000 acre estate passed to his younger brother Henry Herbert Wombwell.

Picture of 4th Baronet

References

  1. ↑ "p. 5281 § 52806". Retrieved 16 November 2010.
  2. ↑ "17th Lancers". Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  3. ↑ Historic England. "High House  (Grade II*) (1150731)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "Nov 13 1860 Nomination of Sheriffs". Cumberland and Westmorland Newspaper Transactions. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
  5. ↑ "photo". flickr. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
  6. ↑ "p. 5281 § 52806". Retrieved 15 November 2010.
  7. ↑ Moseley, Brian (19 February 2011). "The Lords Saint Levan". The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History. Archived from the original on 29 April 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded by
George Wombwell		 Baronet
(of Wombwell)
1855–1913 		Succeeded by
Henry Wombwell