Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry

Charles (Vane-) Stewart, later 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. Painting by Thomas Lawrence 1812

Coat of arms of Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry

Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (until 1822 Charles William Stewart , from 1814 to 1822 he was known under his title Lord Stewart ; born May 18, 1778 in Dublin , † March 6, 1854 in London ) was a British officer, Politician and diplomat.

family

Charles Stewart was the son of Robert Stewart, first Marquess of Londonderry, and mother, Frances, daughter of Charles Pratt, Earl of Camden . His older half-brother from a previous marriage of his father was the future British Foreign Secretary Castlereagh .

In his first marriage he married Catherine Bligh daughter of John Bligh , 3rd Earl of Darnley . With her he had a son. She died in 1812. In his second marriage he married Frances Anne, the daughter of Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd baronet († 1813). This was the heir to large estates. With the marriage he took the family name Vane and added that of that family to his coat of arms. The marriage resulted in three sons and four daughters.

His first marriage son, Frederick William Robert Stewart, succeeded him as the fourth Marquess of Londonderry. The eldest son from the second marriage George Henry Robert Charles William succeeded him as Earl Vane.

Life

Advancement in the military

After training at Eton , he joined the British Army in 1794 . His military career was mainly promoted by his uncle Lord Camden . A short time later he was made lieutenant and captain . A year later he became a major . He served in 1794/95 during the First Coalition War on the staff of Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings in the Netherlands. He then belonged to the British delegation at the Austrian headquarters during the campaigns on the Rhine and the Upper Danube in 1795 and 1796. He was wounded in a cavalry battle near Donauwörth .

He was then aide-de-camp with his uncle Lord Camden during his time as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1795 and 1798. In 1796 he became major in the 5th Dragoons (Royal Irish). In 1797 he was appointed lieutenant colonel . The regiment was used in the Irish uprising of 1798 . Because numerous soldiers deserted, it was dissolved in 1799. He then became lieutenant colonel of the 18th light dragoons. With this he served in the campaign of 1799 in the Netherlands. He was slightly wounded in a battle.

Politician and MP

Memorial statue in Durham by Raffaelle Monti

In 1803 he became a colonel and aide-de-camp of King George III. appointed. During this time his political career began. He did not act independently. Rather, the family and especially his half-brother influenced his positions. A short time later, he was appointed under-secretary in Ireland . For Thomastown he was a member of the Irish Parliament . After the Union of Ireland , he became a member of the State Parliament for Derry in place of his uncle Alexander . His family made sure that he could later take the seat for Westminster . He remained a member of parliament until 1814.

When Napoleon's invasion threatened in 1805 , he published Suggestions for the Improvement of the Force of the British Empire . In 1807 he became under-secretary of war to the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies , while his brother, with whom he worked closely, was Secretary of State.

Stewart temporarily gave up his state office in 1808 to command a hussar brigade in Portugal . During the war on the Iberian Peninsula, the troops protected the rest of the army as they advanced towards Madrid and Salamanca and later covered the retreat. In the further course of the fighting he distinguished himself several times.

At the beginning of 1809 he returned to his previous office in London. He also received the sinecure of governor of Fort Charles , Jamaica.

In April of the same year he returned to the army in the Iberian Peninsula, which was now under the command of Wellington . He served this as adjutant general with the rank of brigadier general . Once again he excelled as a commander several times before he had to return to England sick.

In February 1810, the House of Commons thanked him for his achievements in the war. A short time later he was appointed major general. He had previously returned to the Spanish theater of war and again served as adjutant general from 1810 to 1812 . Again he excelled several times in the field.

Because his previous fever broke out again, he returned to England in February 1812. Disagreements with Wellington, who accused him of intrigues and refused command of a cavalry division, led to the end of his military career.

In February 1813 Stewart was made Knight of the Order of Bath . For his service on the Iberian Peninsula, he also received the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword and other awards.

diplomat

Charles William Stewart 3rd Marquess of Londonderry in the regalia of a Knight of the Order of the Garter (painting by James Godsell Middleton 1853)

In the meantime his brother had become foreign minister again. Stewart was appointed envoy in Berlin in 1813 . Above all, he was supposed to keep in touch with the Prussian and Swedish armies. On April 26, he reached the Allied headquarters near Dresden and signed an alliance treaty between Great Britain, Prussia and Russia. He was present at the Battle of Großgörschen and took an active part in the Battle of Bautzen . He also took part in the cavalry attack Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher near Haynau, the storming of fortifications near Dresden. In Kulm he was wounded several times. During the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig , he commanded the reserve cavalry under Blücher. After Napoleon's defeat, he concluded an agreement with Louis-Nicolas Davout to return his troops to France. He received the Order of the Sword from Bernadotte , Crown Prince of Sweden, and he also received the Prussian Order of Black and Red Eagle and the Russian Order of St. George . During the 1814 campaign, Stewart and his brother were in the respective headquarters of the Allies. He was again involved in various military actions and took part in the occupation of Paris on March 31.

A short time later he was promoted to lieutenant general and raised to Baron Stewart. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge awarded him honorary degrees. He became a member of the Privy Council and received other honorary posts at court. He became ambassador in Vienna in 1814 and was envoy to the Congress of Vienna . He supported his brother and later Wellington. He made a name for himself not least because of various escapades and excessive alcohol consumption. The Viennese called him "Lord Pumpernickel." During the renewed fight against Napoleon in 1815, after the battle of Waterloo , he accompanied the sovereigns to Paris.

In 1820 he represented Great Britain at the Congress of Troppau and in 1821 at the Congress of Laibach . Together with Wellington he took part in the Verona Congress in 1822 .

Later years

Wynyard Hall

After the death of his brother in 1822 he inherited this as Marquess of Londonderry . In 1823 his ambassadorial activity ended in Vienna. He was also raised to Earl Vane and Viscount Seaham in 1823 . As early as 1822 he had bought the Seaham property near Durham . He expanded this and his other possessions. He had coal mines built, a port with docks and a railway line built. He had the country estate Wynyard Hall and the associated park built.

From 1834/35 he was ambassador to St. Petersburg for some time . In Great Britain he made numerous enemies with his resistance to all reform efforts. He was an opponent of Irish emancipation, the uprisings in Poland and Italy. Since 1836 he made trips to Russia and some areas in Eastern and Southern Europe. Back in England he dueled twice .

In 1837 he was appointed general . He was also a member of the House of Lords . After Wellington's death, he took his place in the Order of the Garter .

He was the author of various scripts.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Thierry Lentz : 1815. The Congress of Vienna and the re-establishment of Europe. Munich, 2014 p. 89

Fonts

• A Narrative of the Peninsular War from 1808 to 1813 , 2 vols. 4to, London, 1828.
• A Narrative of the War in Germany and France in 1813-14 , 4to, London, 1830.
• Recollections of a Tour in the North of Europe in 1836-7, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1838.
• Journal of a Tour in the Southern Parts of Spain, London, 1840.
• A Steam Voyage to Constantinople by the Rhine and Danube in 1840-1, and to Portugal, Spain, & c. in 1839, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1842.
• Memoir and Correspondence of Viscount Castlereagh, second Marquess of Londonderry, edited by his brother, 12 vols. 8vo, London, 1848-53.

Web links

• Entry on historyofparliamentonline

literature

• Ernest Marsh Lloyd: Stewart, Charles William . In: Dictionary of National Biography. Volume 54. London, 1898 pp. 278–282 Entry on en: WS

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Baron Stewart 1814-1854	Frederick Stewart
Robert Stewart	Marquess of Londonderry 1822-1854	Frederick Stewart
New title created	Earl Vane 1823-1854	Frederick Stewart