Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond
Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond, KG, PC (né Lennox; 3 August 1791 – 21 October 1860), styled the Earl of March from 1806 until 1819, was a British peer, soldier and prominent Conservative politician. Upon the death of his uncle in 1836, he inherited the Gordon estates and per the terms of the bequest, adopted thus additional surname.
The Duke of Richmond
George White-Thomas
3 August 1791
Richmond House, Whitehall Gardens, London
21 October 1860 (aged 69)
Portland Place, Marylebone, London
Lady Caroline Paget (1796–1874)
- Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond
- Caroline Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough
- Lord Fitzroy Gordon-Lennox
- Lord Henry Gordon-Lennox
- Lord Alexander Gordon-Lennox
- Augusta, Princess Edward of Saxe-Weimar
- Lord George Gordon-Lennox
- Cecilia Bingham, Countess of Lucan
Origins[edit]
He was born "Charles Lennox", the son and heir of Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond (1764–1819) by his wife Lady Charlotte Gordon, the eldest child of Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon. Until his father's death in 1819 he was styled Earl of March, a courtesy title, being one of his father's subsidiary titles.
Education[edit]
He was educated at Westminster School in London and Trinity College, Dublin.[1]
Political career[edit]
Richmond sat as a Member of Parliament for Chichester between 1812 and 1819.[2] The latter year he succeeded his father in the dukedom and entered the House of Lords where he was a vehement opponent of Roman Catholic emancipation, and later was a leader of the opposition to Peel's free trade policy, as he was the president of the Central Agricultural Protection Society, which campaigned for the preservation of the Corn Laws. Although a vigorous Conservative and Ultra-Tory for most of his career, Richmond's anger with Wellington over Catholic Emancipation prompted him to lead the Ultras into joining Earl Grey's reforming Whig government in 1830 (Lang, 1999).[2]
He served under Grey as Postmaster General between 1830 and 1834.[1] He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1830,[8] and in 1831 was appointed to serve on the Government Commission upon Emigration, which was wound up in 1832.[9]
Richmond was Lord Lieutenant of Sussex between 1835 and 1860 and was appointed a Knight of the Garter in 1829.[1][10]
In 1836, on inheriting the estates of his childless maternal uncle George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon, he was required by the terms of the bequest to assume the surname of Gordon before that of Lennox;[2] he duly took the surname Gordon-Lennox for himself and his issue, by royal licence dated 9 August 1836.[11]
Death and burial[edit]
He died at Portland Place, Marylebone, London, in October 1860, aged 69 and was succeeded in the dukedom by his eldest son Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond (1818–1903).