Lord Frederick FitzClarence

Lord Frederick FitzClarence

Lord Frederick FitzClarence
Born 9 December 1799
Died 30 October 1854
Allegiance United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service 1814-1854
Rank Lieutenant-General
Commands held Bombay Army
Awards Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order

Lieutenant-General Lord Frederick FitzClarence, GCH (9 December 1799 30 October 1854) was a British Army officer as well as being the illegitimate third son of King William IV and his mistress, Dorothea Jordan.

Military career

FitzClarence was commissioned as an officer in the British Army in 1814.[1] While a captain in the Coldstream Guards, FitzClarence commanded a small detachment of Guards to act in support of the police with the arrest of the Cato Street conspirators in 1820.[1] The arrest was not straightforward, and a scuffle ensued.[2] The Naval and Military Gazette (May 1845) identified Sgt James Graham as the man who saved FitzClarence's life.[3]

Frederick FitzClarence gained the rank of Colonel in the service of the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot.[1] On 24 May 1831 he was granted the rank of a marquess' younger son.[1] Having been invested as a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order (G.C.H.) that same year, he became Military Governor of Portsmouth in 1840 and then Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army in 1852.[4] He died in office in October 1854.[1]

A bookplate showing the coat of arms of Lord Frederick FitzClarence
Bookplate showing the coat of arms of Lord Frederick FitzClarence. The bookplate reads, "This belonged to my Father when Duke of Clarence and was left to me by the Will of Queen Adelaide"

Family

On 19 May 1821, he married Lady Augusta Boyle (d. 28 July 1876), the eldest daughter of the 4th Earl of Glasgow. They had two children:

Ancestry

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lord Frederick FitzClarence obituary The Gentleman's Magazine, 1855, p.304
  2. Morning Chronicle, Thursday, 24 February 1820, as replicated on A Web of English History
  3. Chichester, H.M.; "Graham, James (1791–1845)", (rev. James Lunt), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  4. The India List and India Office List
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir John Grey
C-in-C, Bombay Army
18521854
Succeeded by
Sir Henry Somerset
Masonic offices
Preceded by
The Earl of Rothes
Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of Scotland

1841 1843
Succeeded by
Lord Glenlyon
Honorary titles
Preceded by
The Earl of Munster
Lieutenant of the Tower of London
18331854
Succeeded by
John Sullivan Wood