EARL OF MUNSTER.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 14, 16 September 1842, Page 3

EARL OF MUNSTER.

wifl| We copy the following remarks upon the life i'raHf the late lamented Earl'of Munster, from the 'MgMWeekly Chronicle of the 27th of March last. The most celebrated comic actress of‘the last age, Mrs. was the mother of the deceased peer; his father Bas our late tind-hcaiied and popular monarch, King IV., long known as the Duke of Clarence. QuHjoon after the death of the late Ptinccss Charlotte, Mrs. dnflßordan withdrew from the protection of the Duke of > r 'Mßlai'enee, and went to reside on tlie Continent. About

time, as many as six or seven royal man .’ages were Slemnised, amongst which was that of the late King. dOMith the present Queen Dowager. It is, of course, well that-no issue of that maniage sui jived, but the tyajßiildren of Mrs. Jordan by the-Duke-of Clarence, were sons and five daughters, the eldest of whom wa3 ririßfciscd to the peerage in May 1831, by the titles of Earl Munster, Viscount-Fiizclarcnee,- and Baron of TevvkcsOf the remaining issue, thvec of the sons and L f|flr ce hie daughters were raised to the precedency of children of a marquis-by a royal warrant, dated tlie of May 1831, previous to which period one son d<ed, aud two daughters,-having been mauied to j ; 'Hr CL ' s ’ l ’ Cf l u b’ cc l no such elevation of rank., w*H George Fitzclarence, the Earl of Munster, had comhis 48tli year, having been born on the 29th of 1794. In the y-wa- 1807, at the early age of he received -his -commission ns comet jn the gjjßfrincc of Wales’s regiment of hussars, and in the folwßßwjng year he proceeded with his regiment to the PcninWW'a, as aide-de-camp to General Slade. When but years old, we find him partlcipai'ug in a ll the ysßring exigencies which accompanied the battle of CosV^B ,nna > and immediately upon bis retain to England, staited to jo ; n tlie aimy-iu Portugal as aide-de-camp ri.B> the Adjutant-general Lord Londonderry, then Sir Stewart. From this period to the end of the rC;|H ar i he served on the staff at head-quarters, and was in twelve general engagements; and he here laid foundation of his friendship with the Duke of Wel- ■^ uen^es d’Onoro he paifrcvlavly distinliimself at the head of a squadron, ta checking of the French upon the right flank of the iOPBmy; but, having been wounded in a charge, and his e H rSe un< ler him, he was taken prisoner. Even 1(ler circumstances, bis presence of mind did not ■WK at ’ r ’ having- obseived the fall of several V»klB ench hussars in.bis immediate neighbourhood, he foll^*WJ ffe( l their example, without the same cause, and in the WBbsequent confusion, succeeded in regaining .the British His .promotion.to.a,troop immediately followed battle, anil he. returned to England to join the regi|^SB en t to. which he had, been appointed.. In 1813, how’JpMpb he again.repaired, to, the seat. of. vyar, and subse- ' l wßß le ntly,at Toulouse,he was severely wounded in leadmg 6 against cavalvy. . Tire altered, condition of ifi|HW a ks uow changed his sphere of action; and, in Januaiy he sailed for India, where he arrived, at Calcutta, month of July. Although in the midst of the WJ season, he started to join the Governor-general, e - W"- was in the upper provinces, and in eleven days ac,H»^B'mphshed the distance of 700 miles. In the inter :al tgßhvcen this period and the breaking out of the Mahwar ’ v *sited Delhi, the north of India, &c., but opportunity of distinction. At the conAajH 05 ’ 011 °f the peace with Scindia, he was-selected to SB! 17 rae over land d ; spatches—an undertaking of ||B' or dinary moment, when the condition of the surcountrywas considered: • He reached home in . Ifßty 1818, and then he sustained the severe accident of leg; which requiring confinement and rest, gave JIM™ an opportunity of preparing for the press his Journal,. was published in June 1819. In this year he re||^Bu' e( l the brevet rank' of lieutenant-colonel, and on the Hfßyb of October 1819, be was married to Miss Mary sister to Colonel Wyndham,,the member for l|» est Sussex, and natural daughter of the late Earl of , 4l^B^ ren3 °ut, by whom he has seven children. HH • b e published three papers in the •Journal oii the' ernplbymeht of Maliomm'edan'inercea subject to which he appears to have devoted Mumble attention.. He lias, also published an acth.e cam paign of 1.809, in Spain and Portugal, iB Bether with other short contributions to lighter litera-

.v! -e. In Ac year 1831, as ha? already .bccii lie was swovn* in a privy ! counci M or, and raised to the peerage.', i His titles w'ere granted with special, remainder, in default of his owii male issue,-, to l>is-.brothers jin the order of ju-imogcriture., 1n..1832, during the discussions on the Refoim Bill, he found it necessaiy to ex- , plain in the House of : Lbrds the rnotives which led liim to support that measure without fully agreeiug in its iletai’s; and, in the fohowlng W'orils, he justified the reasons of his conduct;: —“ Called to your Lordships’ house, and holihng these, opinions, I, nevertheless, considered it impossible but to support this mimstetinl measure; and for the sole veasoh, lest, in opposing the clauses to which I objected, I might have created a false impression respecting the opimon of one to whom 1 owe evertbmg.” In the year 1830, he had attained the rank of colonel in the aimy; and on the publication of the bvgyet, which foPowed the hiith of the Prince of Wales, in 1841, he received the rank of major-general. He was shortly afterwards appointed to command the, troops in the western dist, let of England. At the period of his death he likewise held the offices of governor and captain, constable and lieutenant, of Windsor Castle, and he was colonel of the Ist Tower Hamlets militia. He was a member of many learned societies in this countiy and abroad, among which honours may be mentioned those of fellow of the Royal. Society, vice-president of the Asiatic Society, and corresponding member of the institute of France. Among foreign mihtavy distine; ions he had received the grand cross of the order of St. Ferdinand of Wuriembu'-g. I Although provision was made, on the creation of his ; earldom, against'the extinction of the peerage, by h ; s i Lordship dying without male issue, yet, since he ..has had , a family, these limitations do not, of course, come into 1 force. His eldest son, William George, who has hitheiio ' borne the courtesy title of Viscount Fitzclarence, and who was born 19th of May 1824, succeeds to the peerage, and becomes second Earl of Munster. Being only in bis 18th year, he will, of course, not be able to take bis seat in the House of Lords till May 1845. The other issue of the deceased Earl are—Lady Adelaide Georgiana, bom October 28, 1820 ; Lady Augusta Margaret, born July 31, 1822; Hon. Frederick Charles George, horn Feb.uaiy 1, 1826; Hon. George, born April 15, ! 1836 ; aud the Hon. Edward, bom July 8, 1837- His Lordship had another daughter, w’ho died, however, wl : le an infant. ! As the peculiar ci'-cumstances of the family render a 1! connected with them interesting, the brothers and sisters i of the late earl arc detailed in the fo' 1 owing Fst: —1. Lady Sophia, who married on the 13th of August 1825, Lei de Lisle and Dud'ey, and died on the 10th of Ap-il 1837. —r2. Heruy, a captain in the 87th foot, who was boin in 1796, and died in India in 1817. —3. Lady Ma y, housekeeper at Windsor Castle, who was born on the 19th of December 1798, and married on the 19th of June 1824, Colonel Cha les Richard Fox, a natural son of the lata Lord Holland, and M.P. for the Tower Hoir’ets.—4. Lord Frederick, Q.C.H.. a major-general in the ai my, who was bom on the 9th of December 1799, and married on the 19fch of May 1821, Lady Augusta Boyle,' the third daughter of the fourth Ea l of Glasgow, by whom he has one daughter.—s. Elizabeth, who was bom on the 18th of Januaiy 1801, and married on the 4th Deember 1820, the present Earl of Errol.—6. Lo'rd Adolphcus rrngcr of Windsor home-park, aod-acaptam in the navy, who was bom on the 18th Febiuary 1802. —7. Lady Augusta, housekeeper at Kensington palace, who was boin on the 20th of November 1803, and married ou tlie stli July 1827, the Hon. John Kennedy Ersldnc: this gentleman dying in 1832, her ladyship married, 24jt.ii August 1836, Lord John Frederick-. Gordon, the present member for Forfa. shi -e. —8. Rsv. Lord Augustas, 8.C.L., chaphru in ordmaiy to the Queen, bom Ist March 1805.—9. Ame r m, who was bom on the 20th of March 1807, and married on the 27th December 1830, the present Viscount Falk rind, now Governor of Nova Scoria. Among the famines put into mourning by the melancholy decease of the Earl of Munster, may therefore be reckoned, those of ColoneL and General Wjuilba.m, Lord de Lisle and Dudley, Colonel Fox, file Earl of Glasgow, the Earl of Errol, Lord Frederick Gordon, Viscount Falkland, &c.