Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond

Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond, (né Lennox; 3 August 179121 October 1860), styled the Earl of March from 1806 to 1819, was a Scottish peer, soldier and prominent Conservative politician. Upon the death of his uncle in 1836, he inherited the Gordon estates and per the terms of the bequest, adopted thus additional surname. His near-complete correspondence is now held at the West Sussex Archives.

Early life

Gordon-Lennox was born in 1791, the son and heir of Charles Lennox (1764–1819) by his wife, Lady Charlotte Gordon, the eldest child of Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon. In 1806, his father inherited the Dukedom of Richmond from his uncle the third duke. From then until his father's death in 1819, Gordon-Lennox was styled Earl of March, a courtesy title, being one of his father's subsidiary titles.

Gordon-Lennox was educated at Westminster School in London and Trinity College Dublin. In 1836, on inheriting the estates of his childless maternal uncle George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon, he was required by the terms of the bequest to assume the surname of Gordon before that of Lennox;

Career The Battle of the Pyrenees by John Singleton Copley, 1814. Richmond is shown to the right of the Duke of Wellington

As Earl of March, he served on Wellington's staff in the Peninsular War, during which time he volunteered to join the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot's advance storming party on the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo. He formally joined the 52nd Foot in 1813 and took command of a company of soldiers at the Battle of Orthez in 1814, where he was severely wounded; He was chiefly responsible for the institution in 1847 of the Military General Service Medal for all survivors of the campaigns between 1793 and 1814, considered by many belated as hitherto there had only been a Waterloo Medal. He campaigned in Parliament and enlisted the interest of Queen Victoria. Richmond himself received the medal with eight clasps. Richmond was appointed Colonel of the Royal Sussex Light Infantry Militia on 4 December 1819, and Colonel-in-Chief of its offshoot the Royal Sussex Militia Artillery, on its formation in April 1853.

Political career Richmond sat as a Member of Parliament for Chichester between 1812 and 1819. and in 1831 was appointed to serve on the Government Commission upon Emigration, which was wound up in 1832.

Richmond was Lord Lieutenant of Sussex between 1835 and 1860 and was appointed a Knight of the Garter in 1829.

Personal life

On 10 April 1817 he married Lady Caroline Paget (1797–1874), a daughter of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey by his wife Lady Caroline Villiers. Together, they were the parents of five sons and five daughters, including: Lord Fitzroy George Charles Gordon-Lennox (1820–1841), lost at sea aboard . Lord George Charles Gordon-Lennox (1829–1877), MP for Lymington; he married Minnie ( Palmer) Cook, a daughter of William Henry Palmer and widow of Edwin Adolphus Cook, in 1875; he left no children. Lady Cecilia Catherine Gordon-Lennox (1838–1910), who married Charles Bingham, 4th Earl of Lucan, the eldest son of George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan and Lady Anne Brudenell (a daughter of the 6th Earl of Cardigan).

The Duke died at Portland Place, Marylebone, London, in October 1860, aged 69 and was succeeded in the dukedom by his eldest son Charles.

Descendants Through his youngest surviving daughter Cecilia, he is a direct ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales, and of her sons, William, Prince of Wales, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.