About Me

My photo
Satsuma Sword Collector

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Honourable Charles William Cavendish 1878-1900

The aristocracy, as the traditional guardian of the nation, is reflected in this officer of Lancers, 2nd Lieutenant The Honourable Charles William Cavendish. See below taken fom the online source, The Peerage with some grammatical changes. 'Lt. Hon. Charles William Hugh Cavendish was born on 13 September 1878 at Clivedon, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. He was the son of Major General Charles Compton William Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham and Lady Beatrice Constance Grosvenor daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminister. He died on 11 June 1900 at age 21 at Diamond Hill, Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa, killed in action with his squadron. He was educated at Eton College, Windsor, Berkshire, England and later at Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Berkshire, England. 2nd Lieutenant in the service of the 17th Lancers. He fought in the Boer War.' His father,who commmanded the Imperial Yeomanry at the the time, was a mere 50 miles away when he heard of his son's death. He erected a tablet; "This tablet marked the grave of Charles Cavendish 17th Lancers on the battlefield of Diamond Hill South Africa. It was placed there by his father AD 1900 and brought home by him when replaced by the cross erected there by the officers of the 17th Lancers AD 1901." Later a stainglass memorial was erected at Northampton Cathedral in his memory: To the Glory of God and in memory of Brave Men, inhabitants of this County and neighbourhood, who gave their lives for their Sovereign and Country during the War in South Africa 1899-1902, the Western Window of this Cathedral was filled with stained glass, AD 1903... 17th (Duke of Cambridge's Own) Lancers, 2nd Lieut. The Hon. C.W.H. Cavendish
BRIGADIER-GENERAL LORD CHESHAM, Charles William Compton Cavendish, Baron Chesham, of Chesham, in the County of Buckinghamshire, was born 13th December 1850. He received his first commission in the Coldstream Guards on 30th March 1870, but was transferred immediately afterwards to the 10th Hussars, of which regiment he became Adjutant 17th May 1876. Obtaining his troop 13th October 1877, he exchanged to the 16th Lancers, and shortly afterwards retired from the Regular Army, and was appointed 2nd July 1897, to a troop in the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry. He was promoted to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the regiment on 24th April 1889. He raised the corps to such a high standard of efficiency, that it is was arguably unequalled in the whole Yeomanry Service. It was only, therefore, in the nature of things that he should have been offered the command of the 10th Battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry when it came into existence in the January. His command consisted of two Companies drawn from his own County and one each from Berkshire and Oxfordshire. This battalion was one of the first to land in South Africa, and was at once pushed on to the front. Thus it came about that the 10th Battalion was the first Yeomanry unit to receive its baptism of fire, its behaviour in Lord Methuen's action at Boshof having been highly commended by Methuen, who pronounced the gallantry of the yeoman troopers as worthy the best traditions of the British Cavalry.
Posted by at