Reginald Pole-Carew

"A General Group", Vanity Fair, 29 November 1900, depicting Lord Roberts and his commanders. Standing l-r: Plumer, Hunter, Macdonald, Buller, Baden-Powell, Dundonald, Kitchener, Pole-Carew and Carrington. Seated at right: White and French. Roberts' foot rests on the 8 March print of Kruger

Lieutenant-General Sir Reginald Pole-Carew (1 May 1849 – 19 September 1924) was a British politician, landowner and British Army officer who became General Officer Commanding 8th Division.

Background and family Pole-Carew was the son of William Pole-Carew (1811–1888) by his wife Frances Anne Buller (d. 1902), daughter of John Buller. His father was a descendant of the Pole baronets of Shute House, and served as Member of Parliament for East Cornwall.

Military career Pole-Carew was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in 1869. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in February 1895.

He served as a staff officer with Lord Roberts in the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1878 and again served with him during the Second Boer War of 1899–1902. He was promoted to the substantive rank of colonel on 27 November 1899, and at the same time appointed in command of the 9th Brigade with the local rank of major-general. As such he was in command of the brigade during the Battle of Modder River on 28 November 1899. In February 1900 he was appointed in command of the Guards Brigade, shortly before the Relief of Kimberley, but two months later he transferred in april 1900 to command of the 11th Division of the South Africa Field Force. After the end of the war in South Africa, he was appointed General Officer Commanding 8th Division in Southern Ireland in 1903.

Political career Pole-Carew was Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for Bodmin from 1910 to 1916. In 1911, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Cornwall. He lived at Antony House in Cornwall.

General Pole-Carew, his wife Beatrice and his sister-in-law Lady Constance Butler hosted the King, the Queen, and Princess Victoria at Shanbally Castle on 3 May 1904.

Marriage and children On 19 February 1901, Pole-Carew married Lady Beatrice Frances Elizabeth Butler, daughter of James Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde and Elizabeth Butler, Marchioness of Ormonde, in the Guards Chapel, Knightsbridge. The wedding reception was held at Stafford House.

Two days prior to the Wedding Ceremony King Edward and Queen Alexandra had received Lord and Lady Ormonde, Lady Beatrice, and Major General Pole-Carew at Marlborough House, where the King and Queen presented Beatrice with a wedding present of a pair of diamonds wings with a large ruby in the centre. The King also personally presented an Indian Shawl directly to Lady Beatrice. King Edward VII's daughter Princess Victoria also gave Beatrice a wedding present of a blue enamel and diamond brooch. The King's sisters Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Henry of Battenberg gave respective wedding presents of a diamond and emerald bracelet, an antique silver and tortoiseshell casket and a gold curb bracelet. The Duke of Cornwall and York and Duchess of Cornwall and York gave the couple a diamond and enamelled pendant, and the King's brother the Duke of Connaught gave a buhl clock.

Sir Reginald and Lady Beatrice had four children:

Sir John Carew Pole, 12th Baronet (1902 - 1993) in 1952, divorced 1957. Margaret Anne Du Cane (1932 - 2023) married David Stuart, 2nd Viscount Stuart of Findhorn in 1979. Charles Antony Du Cane (b. 1940) Patrick William Butler Pole-Carew (1913 - 1971)

By the time Reginald married Lady Beatrice Butler in 1901, she had become a wealthy heiress in her own right. Although she was the eldest of the Marquess of Ormonde's two daughters, as well as a maternal granddaughter of the richest peer in the United Kingdom Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, Beatrice and her sister Lady Constance Butler had become heiresses primarily due to an unexpected inheritance from a distance cousin. In 1898 the will of their first-cousin twice-removed George O'Callaghan, 2nd Viscount Lismore revealed that Beatrice and Constance would inherit his estate, subject to a life interest held by his widow. Following the death of the Dowager Lady Lismore in 1900, Lady Beatrice and Lady Constance inherited an estate worth approximately £18,500 annually, as well as Shanbally Castle in County Tipperary, Ireland.

Following Reginald's death in 1924, his eldest son John inherited the Antony House Estate in Cornwall, whilst his younger son Major Patrick Pole-Carew later inherited the Shanbally Castle estate. Following the deaths Lady Constance Butler in 1949 and later Lady Beatrice Pole-Carew in 1953, Patrick sold the Shanbally Estate to the Irish Land Commission during the 1950's.

Decorations Companion of the Order of the Bath – 25 November 1887 Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath – 29 November 1900, in recognition of services in connection with the Campaign in South Africa 1899–1900 Commander of the Royal Victorian Order – 8 March 1901