THE DUKE OF RICHMOND
From Mark Lane Express.
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THE DUKE’S ANCESTRY.

     Although the object of this notice will be treated more an agriculturist than a soldier or a senator, we do not think we can pass over his birth, parentage, and education without devoting a few lines to them. Charles Gordon Lennox, fifth Duke of Richmond, was born on the 3rd of August, 1791. His Grace is descended from a son of Madame de Querouelle, by Charles II. The merry monarch not only created the Lady Louisa Querouelle Duchess of Portsmouth, Countess of Farnham, and Baroness of Petersfield, but gave the titles of Duke of Richmond and Lennox, Earl of March and Darnley, and Baron Settrington to her son. At nine years of age this little scion of royalty was installed as a Knight Companion of the Garter, and made Master of the Horse; it ought to have been a rocking-horse. Nor was Louis XIV less liberal, for he granted the territory of Aubigny, in France, to the Duchess of Portsmouth for life, and after her decease the name, title, dignity, and land to descend to her son, the Duke of Richmond, and heirs male to his body, as Duke of Aubigny. This fortunate youth served in Flanders during the reign of William III, as his aide-de-camp, and was also a Lord of the Bedchamber to George I. The second Duke shared some of his father’s good fortune; he was elected M.P. for the city of Chichester, and for the borough of Newport, and strange to say, between the two seats he did not fall to the ground, for he lived to be a Knight of the Bath, and of the Garter, a Lord of the Bedchamber, and aide-de-camp to George I, which post he held under George II, and at the coronation of the latter monarch acted as High Constable of England for the day. On the death of the Duchess of Portsmouth, the dukedom of Aubigny devolved upon his Grace, who was shortly afterwards appointed Master of the Horse to the King, and one of the most honorable Privy Council. Not satisfied with these civil dignities, the Duke was speedily promoted from the rank of Brigadier-General to that of Lieut-General. During this period the Duke was present at the battle of Dettingen, and shortly afterwards, under the orders of the Duke of Cumberland, assisted at the reduction of Carlisle. His Grace was subsequently made High Steward of Chichester, and admitted to the degree of Doctor of Physic at Cambridge; nor did his good fortune end here, for he received the Colonelcy of the Royal Horse Guards (Blues) the very year of his death. The third duke, who succeeded to his father’s titles and estates at the early age of fifteen, also chose the military profession, and before he had attained his twenty-seventh year had risen to the rank of Major-General in the Army; and at the accession of George III received, what in those days seemed to be the hereditary right of the family, the situation of Lord of the Bedchamber. His Grace was afterwards appointed Lord Lieutenant of the County of Sussex, and eventually held the situations of Secretary of State, and Master-General of the Ordnance. So extensive and extravagant were his Grace’s plans in the latter department, respecting the fortifications of our sea-girt isle, that the economists of the House of Commons took the alarm, and with the casting vote of the Speaker carried their point. The fourth duke following the footsteps of his ancestors, selected the army for his profession, and finally attained the rank of Lieut.-General, with the Colonelcy of the 35th Regiment of the Line. His duel, when Colonel Lennox, with the Duke of York, is too well known to require further notice, except to say, that nothing could exceed the coolness evinced on both sides. Previous to his elevation to the peerage, his Grace represented the County of Sussex for seven successive parliaments, and two years after it, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a situation he held for six years. In 1818 he was made Governor General of the British Settlements in North America, where he died August 1819, from hydrophobia. The question has so often been mooted, as to the cause of his death, and so many erroneous opinions have been given that we, who were in Canada at the time, can enlighten the reader as to the real state of the case. His Grace had left Quebec, to proceed to the Upper Provinces on a tour of Inspection, and had stopped for a few days at a small government fort between the former place and Montreal. It was here, in attempting to separate his own spaniel and a tame chained-up fox, who were fighting, that he received the fatal bite. It was a mere scratch, and treated as such, but an acute observer remarked at the time that the fox was in such a state of passion, that the saliva dropped from his mouth, and it is generally believed that the wound was inflicted by this animal, for the dog, who was afterwards brought to England, never showed any symptoms of madness. We will not dwell upon the sufferings this noble—in every sense of the word, nobleman—underwent, when attempting to struggle against the dreadful calamity; suffice it to say, he bore them with patient resignation, and died as he had lived, respected by all who had the happiness to know him. Upon his decease, the subject of our memoir, Charles, the fifth of that name, succeeded to the title and estates, and the additional surname of Gordon. On the death of his maternal uncle George, fifth and last Duke of Gordon, the property in Scotland descended by the will of his grandfather, the fourth Duke of Gordon, to the present proprietor of it.

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