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Charles Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham

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Brigadier General The Right Honourable
The Lord Chesham
KCB PC DL
In The Sketch, 3 January 1900
Master of the Buckhounds
In office
1 November 1900 – 1901
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterThe Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded byThe Earl of Coventry
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born(1850-12-13)13 December 1850
Burlington House, London
Died9 November 1907 (1907-11-10) (aged 56)
near Daventry, Northamptonshire
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
SpouseLady Beatrice Constance Grosvenor
Children4
Parent(s)William Cavendish, 2nd Baron Chesham
Henrietta Frances Lascelles
Military career
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service / branch British Army
Years of service1870–1907
RankBrigadier general
UnitImperial Yeomanry
Coldstream Guards
10th Royal Hussars
16th Lancers
Battles / warsSecond Boer War

Charles Compton William Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham, KCB, PC, DL (13 December 1850 – 9 November 1907), styled The Honourable Charles Cavendish between 1863 and 1882, was a British soldier, courtier and Conservative politician. He served as the last Master of the Buckhounds under Lord Salisbury from 1900 to 1901.[1]

Early life

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A member of the Cavendish family headed by the Duke of Devonshire, Chesham was the eldest son of William Cavendish, 2nd Baron Chesham and his wife Henrietta Frances Lascelles, daughter of William Lascelles. He was educated at Eton College.[1]

Political career

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"Imperial Yeomanry" – Lord Chesham as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, March 1900

Lord Chesham took his seat in the House of Lords on his father's death in 1882.[1]

In November 1900, he was appointed Master of the Buckhounds under Lord Salisbury. However, as Chesham was serving in South Africa, Lord Churchill was appointed to act as Master of the Buckhounds in his absence.[2] Chesham remained Master until the office was abolished the following year. He was admitted to the Privy Council in July 1901,[3] and also served as a Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales (later King George V) from 1901[4] to 1907.

Military career

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He entered the Coldstream Guards in 1870. Three years later, he joined the 10th Royal Hussars as a captain, and 1878 joined the 16th Lancers.[1] Chesham held an appointment as lieutenant colonel of the Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars Yeomanry from 1889. In January 1900 he was appointed in command of the 10th battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry (which included companies from Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire), serving in the Second Boer War,[5] and received the temporary rank of colonel in the army.[6] He left Southampton on board the SS Norman in early February 1900,[7] and arrived in South Africa the following month.

Later that year, he was promoted to brigadier general and in November 1900 appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) for his services[8] (he was invested by King Edward VII at Marlborough House on 25 July 1901 during a brief visit to London). From 1901 he was inspector general of Imperial Yeomanry in South Africa, with the local rank of major-general. He relinquished his commission and was granted the honorary rank of major-general in the Army on 22 January 1902,[9] leaving South Africa the following month by the steamer RMS Kinfauns Castle.[10] After his return to the United Kingdom, he was in late April 1902 appointed Inspector General of Imperial Yeomanry (at Army Headquarters) with the temporary rank of major-general whilst so employed.[11]

Lord Chesham was appointed to honorary colonel of the Buckinghamshire Imperial Yeomanry (Royal Bucks Hussars) on 19 March 1902.[12] There is a bronze statue commemorating his life and deeds located in the Market Square in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, which has Grade II Listed Building status.[13]

Compton 3rd Baron Chesham, statue in Aylesbury town centre photographed in 2018

Family

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Beatrice (Constance), Baroness Chesham, photographed 8 August 1902

Lord Chesham married, in 1877, his second cousin Lady Beatrice Constance Grosvenor (1858–1911), second daughter of Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster. They had two sons and two daughters:[14]

Lady Chesham joined her husband in South Africa in April 1900, travelling there on the SS Dunottar Castle with her two sisters the Duchess of Teck and the Marchioness of Ormonde.[15] She was appointed a Lady of Grace of the Order of St. John (DStJ) in July 1901,[16] and in December the same year received the decoration of the Royal Red Cross (RRC) for her services with the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital during the Boer War.[17]

Lord Chesham was killed in November 1907 a after a fox-hunting accident near Daventry. He was thrown from his horse and suffered a dislocated neck. He was succeeded in the barony by his second but eldest surviving son John, then aged 13.[1] After his death, in 1910, Lady Chesham remarried Maj. John Alexander Moncreiffe MC, son of Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, 7th Baronet.[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Obituary: Lord Chesham". The Times. 11 November 1907. p. 10.
  2. ^ "No. 27243". The London Gazette. 2 November 1900. p. 6689.
  3. ^ "No. 27338". The London Gazette. 26 July 1901. p. 4919.
  4. ^ "No. 27378". The London Gazette. 19 November 1901. p. 7472.
  5. ^ "No. 27155". The London Gazette. 19 January 1900. p. 362.
  6. ^ "No. 27156". The London Gazette. 23 January 1900. p. 428.
  7. ^ "The War – Embarcation of Troops". The Times. No. 36063. London. 12 February 1900. p. 10.
  8. ^ "No. 27306". The London Gazette. 19 April 1901. p. 2696.
  9. ^ "No. 27427". The London Gazette. 22 April 1902. p. 2689.
  10. ^ "The War – movements of troops". The Times. No. 36672. 23 January 1902. p. 8. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "No. 27428". The London Gazette. 25 April 1902. p. 2794.
  12. ^ "No. 27417". The London Gazette. 18 March 1902. p. 1887.
  13. ^ Statue with Grade II Listed Building status Heritage Gateway website
  14. ^ a b Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. pp. 761–763. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  15. ^ "The War – Embarcation of Troops". The Times. No. 36093. 19 March 1900. p. 9. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "No. 27330". The London Gazette. 5 July 1901. p. 4469.
  17. ^ "Court circular". The Times. No. 36641. 18 December 1901. p. 6. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
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Political offices
Preceded by Master of the Buckhounds
1900–1901 		Office abolished
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Baron Chesham
1882–1907 		Succeeded by
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