Lord Frederick FitzClarence

British soldier and royal bastard (1799–1854)

Lord Frederick FitzClarence

Lord Frederick FitzClarence
Born9 December 1799
Died30 October 1854(1854-10-30) (aged 54)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1814–1854
RankLieutenant-General
Commands heldBombay Army
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order
Spouse(s)Lady Augusta Boyle
ChildrenAugusta FitzClarence
William FitzClarence
RelationsWilliam IV (father)
Dorothea Jordan (mother)

Lieutenant-General Lord Frederick FitzClarence, GCH (9 December 1799 – 30 October 1854) was a British Army officer and the third illegitimate son of King William IV by 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]

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 by his father, William IV, upon the latter's ascension to the throne.[1] Having been invested as a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order (G.C.H.) that same year, he became Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth and General Officer Commanding South-West District in 1847,[3] and then Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army in 1852.[4] He died in office in October 1854.[1]

Coat of arms

Bookplate showing the coat of arms of Lord Frederick FitzClarence, inscribed: "This belonged to my Father when Duke of Clarence and was left to me by the Will of Queen Adelaide"

The coat of arms of Lord Frederick FitzClarence were the royal arms of King William IV (without the escutcheon of the Arch Treasurer of the Holy Roman Empire and without the Crown of Hanover) debruised by a baton sinister (azure(?)) charged with two anchors (or(?)).[5]

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:

  • Augusta Georgiana Frederica FitzClarence (December 1823 – 18 September 1855)
  • William FitzClarence (b. & d. 1827)

Ancestry

Ancestors of Lord Frederick FitzClarence
16. George II of Great Britain
8. Frederick, Prince of Wales
17. Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach
4. George III of the United Kingdom
18. Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
9. Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
19. Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst
2. William IV of the United Kingdom
20. Adolf Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
10. Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg
21. Princess Christiane Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
5. Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
22. Ernest Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen
11. Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen
23. Countess Sophia Albertine of Erbach-Erbach
1. Lord Frederick FitzClarence
24. James Bland
12. Nathaniel Bland
25. Lucy Brewster
6. Francis Bland
13. Elizabeth Heaton
3. Dorothy Jordan
7. Grace Phillips

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ "Final resting place for two horses". The News. Portsmouth. 21 April 2013. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  4. ^ The India List and India Office List
  5. ^ Compare with arms of his elder brother the 1st Earl of Munster, as given in Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.813, only the charges on the baton sinister differ, for heraldic difference
Military offices
Preceded by GOC South-West District
1847–1851
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Sir John Grey
C-in-C, Bombay Army
1852–1854
Succeeded by
Sir Henry Somerset
Preceded by Colonel of the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot
1851–1854
Succeeded by
William Henry Scott
Masonic offices
Preceded by Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of Scotland

1841–1843
Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lieutenant of the Tower of London
1833
Succeeded by
John Sulivan Wood
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International
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National
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