Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond and 2nd Duke of Lennox, KG, KCB, PC, FRS (born 18 May 1701 at Goodwood, Sussex; died 8 August 1750 at Godalming) was the son of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond. He served as Lord of the Bedchamber to George II from 1727, and in 1735 he was appointed Master of the Horse.

Contents

[edit] Life

He was an early Grand Master Mason from 1724, shortly after the formation of the Premier Grand Lodge of England; it appears that his father had been a master mason in Chichester in 1696. He was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society on 6 February 1724 [1].

The 2nd Duke of Richmond was perhaps early cricket's greatest patron. He is forever associated with Sussex county cricket teams and especially with Slindon Cricket Club. He captained his own XI and his players included some of the earliest known professionals such as his own groom Thomas Waymark, who was the game's foremost all-rounder in the first half of the 18th century. At Slindon, he was associated with the famous Newland brothers [2].

The Duke was one of the founding Governors of London's Foundling Hospital, which received its Royal Charter from George II in 1739. The Foundling Hospital was a charity dedicated to saving London's abandoned children. Both the Duke and the Duchess took great interest in the project. The Duke attended committee meetings and both took part in the baptism and naming of the first children accepted by the Hospital in March 1741.

He was Lieutenant-General in the British troops alongside Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, against Bonnie Prince Charlie. This may have been the inspiration behind the Culloden Tower and Georgian architecture in Richmond, North Yorkshire.

He married Lady Sarah Cadogan (1706–1751), daughter of William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan, on 4 December 1719 at The Hague, Netherlands. They had twelve children, several of whom died in infancy:

For more information, see the Lennox Sisters.

Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, is recorded in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland as having had a natural son by Sophia, heiress of family of Howkins of Brownsover in Warwickshire, by the name of William (born 1747).

[edit] Ancestry

[edit] Further reading

  • R.H. Nichols and F A. Wray, The History of the Foundling Hospital (London: Oxford University Press, 1935).
  • Tillyard, Stella. Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, 1740-1832. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1994.
  • H S Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962
  • Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lists of Royal Society Fellows. Retrieved on 2006-12-15.
  2. ^ Timothy J McCann, Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century, Sussex Record Society, 2004
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Sir Thomas Miller
Henry Kelsall		 Member for Chichester
with Sir Thomas Miller
1722–1724		 Succeeded by
Sir Thomas Miller
Lord William Beauclerk
Freemasonry offices
Preceded by
The Duke of Buccleuch		 Grand Master of the Premier
Grand Lodge of England
1724–1725		 Succeeded by
Lord Paisley
Political offices
Preceded by
The Earl of Scarbrough		 Master of the Horse
1735–1750		 Succeeded by
The Marquess of Hartington
Peerage of England
Preceded by
Charles Lennox		 Duke of Richmond
3rd creation
1723 – 1750		 Succeeded by
Charles Lennox
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by
Charles Lennox		 Duke of Lennox
2nd creation
1723 – 1750		 Succeeded by
Charles Lennox
Languages