Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby
Encyclopedia
Major General
The Honourable Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby, GCMG
, KCB
, KCH
(6 July 1783 – 11 January 1837), styled The Honourable from 1806 to 1837, was a British military officer, the second son of the 3rd Earl of Bessborough
and Henrietta Spencer.
, he joined the army as a cornet
in January 1800, serving in the 10th Light Dragoons. He was promoted lieutenant
in June 1800 and Captain
on 20 August 1803. He exchanged to the 60th Regiment of Foot in April 1806 and served on the staff of the Duke of Bedford
, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
. Promoted major
on 25 June 1807, he went into the 23rd Light Dragoons on 6 August 1809 and went with them to serve in the Peninsular War
.
He fought well at Talavera. He was promoted lieutenant colonel
on 15 March 1810, and served as assistant adjutant-general at Buçaco
and Barrosa
, directing a successful charge by a squadron of the 2nd Regiment of Hussars (KGL
) against the French dragoons. He was given command of the 12th Light Dragoons on 11 June 1811.
After the fall of Badajoz
, he distinguished himself in the battle of Villagarcia
(or Llerena) on 11 April 1812, temporarily commanding Anson
's brigade. Ordered by Sir Stapleton Cotton
to detain a superior force of French cavalry under Charles Lallemand
, he successfully delayed them until reinforcements could arrive to flank the French and pursue them into Llerena.
He led the 12th Light Dragoons to disperse some of the broken French infantry after the Battle of Salamanca
, and was wounded while covering the withdrawal from Burgos
. At Vitoria
, his regiment was part of the force, under Sir Thomas Graham
, that blocked the French retreat towards Bayonne
. He took part in the Battle of the Pyrenees
and the fighting that followed in the south of France, bringing to Wellington
the news that Napoleon had abdicated.
, the 12th Light Dragoons were attached to Vandeleur's light cavalry brigade. At the Battle of Waterloo
, the 12th and 16th Light Dragoons were told to charge down the slope, but no further, to support the withdrawal of the Union Brigade of heavy cavalry. But, like the Union Brigade (led by his second cousin, William Ponsonby), the light horse charged (as he later admitted) too far.
Ponsonby was wounded in both arms, knocked off his horse by another sabre cut, and finally stabbed in the back by a French lancer and lay wounded in the field. A French skirmisher robbed him as he lay helpless on the ground. Luckily for Ponsonby, a Major de Laussat of the Imperial Guard Dragoons found him and treated him kindly, giving him some brandy and promising to send help. Later, another French skirmisher used Ponsonby as a shield as he fired over him. Toward the end of the battle, he was ridden over by Prussian cavalry and roughed up by a Prussian looking for plunder. At last, Ponsonby was discovered by a soldier of the 40th Foot who stood guard over him during the night. He was carried away in a cart, to a surgeon who tended to his seven major wounds and managed to stop the bleeding. He convalesced under the supervision of his sister Lady Caroline Lamb
who nursed him back to health.
He went on half-pay on 26 August 1820, and was appointed "inspecting field officer" in the Ionian Islands
on 20 January 1824. The next year, on 16 March 1825, he married Lady Emily Charlotte Bathurst (d. 1877), daughter of Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst
. They had three sons and three daughters:
in 1828, and KCB
and KCH
in 1831. He left the governorship in May 1835, and was appointed colonel of the 86th Regiment of Foot on 4 December 1835. He was transferred to the colonelcy of the Royal Dragoons
on 31 March 1836. During this period, he maintained a high degree of interest in the handling of cavalry, and corresponded with Wellington. He died suddenly at an inn near Basingstoke
on 11 January 1837.
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
The Honourable Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby, GCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
, KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, KCH
Royal Guelphic Order
The Royal Guelphic Order, sometimes also referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent . It has not been conferred by the British Crown since the death of King William IV in 1837, when the personal union of the...
(6 July 1783 – 11 January 1837), styled The Honourable from 1806 to 1837, was a British military officer, the second son of the 3rd Earl of Bessborough
Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough
Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough was a British peer.Ponsonby was the eldest son of the 2nd Earl of Bessborough and succeeded to his father's titles in 1793...
and Henrietta Spencer.
Early career
Educated at HarrowHarrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
, he joined the army as a cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
in January 1800, serving in the 10th Light Dragoons. He was promoted lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in June 1800 and Captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
on 20 August 1803. He exchanged to the 60th Regiment of Foot in April 1806 and served on the staff of the Duke of Bedford
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford KG, PC, LLD, FSA , known as Lord John Russell until 1802, was a British Whig politician and notably served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Ministry of All the Talents...
, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the British King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
. Promoted major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
on 25 June 1807, he went into the 23rd Light Dragoons on 6 August 1809 and went with them to serve in the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
.
He fought well at Talavera. He was promoted lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
on 15 March 1810, and served as assistant adjutant-general at Buçaco
Battle of Buçaco
The Battle of Bussaco resulted in the defeat of French forces by Lord Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army, in Portugal during the Peninsular War....
and Barrosa
Battle of Barrosa
The Battle of Barrosa was an unsuccessful French attack on a larger Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish force attempting to lift the siege of Cádiz, Spain during the Peninsular War...
, directing a successful charge by a squadron of the 2nd Regiment of Hussars (KGL
King's German Legion
The King's German Legion was a British Army unit of expatriate German personnel, 1803–16. The Legion achieved the distinction of being the only German force to fight without interruption against the French during the Napoleonic Wars....
) against the French dragoons. He was given command of the 12th Light Dragoons on 11 June 1811.
After the fall of Badajoz
Battle of Badajoz (1812)
In the Battle of Badajoz , the Anglo-Portuguese Army, under the Earl of Wellington, besieged Badajoz, Spain and forced the surrender of the French garrison....
, he distinguished himself in the battle of Villagarcia
Battle of Villagarcia
In the Battle of Villagarcia on 11 April 1812, British cavalry commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Stapleton Cotton routed a French cavalry force led by General de Brigade Charles Lallemand at the village of Villagarcia in the Peninsular War...
(or Llerena) on 11 April 1812, temporarily commanding Anson
George Anson (1769-1849)
General Sir George Anson, GCB, KTS , commanded a British cavalry brigade under the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War and sat for many years as a Member of Parliament.-Early life:...
's brigade. Ordered by Sir Stapleton Cotton
Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere
Field Marshal Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere GCB, GCH, KSI, PC , was a British military leader, diplomat and politician...
to detain a superior force of French cavalry under Charles Lallemand
Charles Lallemand
François Antoine "Charles" Lallemand was a French general who served Napoleon I of France, tried to found a colony in what is now Texas, and finally returned to France to serve as governor of Corsica.-Early years:...
, he successfully delayed them until reinforcements could arrive to flank the French and pursue them into Llerena.
He led the 12th Light Dragoons to disperse some of the broken French infantry after the Battle of Salamanca
Battle of Salamanca
The Battle of Salamanca saw Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish armies under the Duke of Wellington defeat Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces among the hills around Arapiles south of Salamanca, Spain on July 22, 1812 during the Peninsular War....
, and was wounded while covering the withdrawal from Burgos
Burgos
Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...
. At Vitoria
Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
, his regiment was part of the force, under Sir Thomas Graham
Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch
General Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch, GCB, GCMG, GCTE was a Scottish aristocrat, politician and British Army officer....
, that blocked the French retreat towards Bayonne
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
. He took part in the Battle of the Pyrenees
Battle of the Pyrenees
The Battle of the Pyrenees was a large-scale offensive launched on 25 July 1813 by Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult from the Pyrénées region on Emperor Napoleon’s order, in the hope of relieving French garrisons under siege at Pamplona and San Sebastián...
and the fighting that followed in the south of France, bringing to Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
the news that Napoleon had abdicated.
Hundred days period
During the Hundred DaysHundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
, the 12th Light Dragoons were attached to Vandeleur's light cavalry brigade. At the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, the 12th and 16th Light Dragoons were told to charge down the slope, but no further, to support the withdrawal of the Union Brigade of heavy cavalry. But, like the Union Brigade (led by his second cousin, William Ponsonby), the light horse charged (as he later admitted) too far.
Ponsonby was wounded in both arms, knocked off his horse by another sabre cut, and finally stabbed in the back by a French lancer and lay wounded in the field. A French skirmisher robbed him as he lay helpless on the ground. Luckily for Ponsonby, a Major de Laussat of the Imperial Guard Dragoons found him and treated him kindly, giving him some brandy and promising to send help. Later, another French skirmisher used Ponsonby as a shield as he fired over him. Toward the end of the battle, he was ridden over by Prussian cavalry and roughed up by a Prussian looking for plunder. At last, Ponsonby was discovered by a soldier of the 40th Foot who stood guard over him during the night. He was carried away in a cart, to a surgeon who tended to his seven major wounds and managed to stop the bleeding. He convalesced under the supervision of his sister Lady Caroline Lamb
Lady Caroline Lamb
The Lady Caroline Lamb was a British aristocrat and novelist, best known for her affair with Lord Byron in 1812. Her husband was the 2nd Viscount Melbourne, the Prime Minister...
who nursed him back to health.
He went on half-pay on 26 August 1820, and was appointed "inspecting field officer" in the Ionian Islands
Ionian Islands
The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e...
on 20 January 1824. The next year, on 16 March 1825, he married Lady Emily Charlotte Bathurst (d. 1877), daughter of Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst KG PC was a British politician.-Background and education:Lord Bathurst was the elder son of Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, by his wife Tryphena, daughter of Thomas Scawen...
. They had three sons and three daughters:
- Sir Henry Frederick Ponsonby (1825–1895)
- Lt-Col. Arthur Edward Valette Ponsonby (3 December 1827 – 16 June 1868), married Catina Dahl
- Georgina Melita Maria Ponsonby (16 February 1829 – 18 February 1895), unmarried
- Harriet Julia Frances Ponsonby (27 October 1830 – 13 June 1906), unmarried
- Selina Barbara Wilhelmina Ponsonby (20 January 1835 – 22 July 1919), married William Windham Baring on 22 January 1862, without issue
- Rev. Frederick John Ponsonby (21 March 1837 – 3 February 1894), unmarried
Later career
On 27 May 1825, he was promoted major-general, commanding the troops in the Ionian Islands. The next year, on 22 December 1826, he was appointed Governor of Malta, and remained there for eight and a half years. He met Baron de Laussat, his saviour at Waterloo, in 1827. During his Maltese tenure, he was made GCMGOrder of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
in 1828, and KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
and KCH
Royal Guelphic Order
The Royal Guelphic Order, sometimes also referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent . It has not been conferred by the British Crown since the death of King William IV in 1837, when the personal union of the...
in 1831. He left the governorship in May 1835, and was appointed colonel of the 86th Regiment of Foot on 4 December 1835. He was transferred to the colonelcy of the Royal Dragoons
Royal Dragoons
The Royal Dragoons was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed in 1661, and served until 1969, when it was amalgamated with the Royal Horse Guards to form The Blues and Royals....
on 31 March 1836. During this period, he maintained a high degree of interest in the handling of cavalry, and corresponded with Wellington. He died suddenly at an inn near Basingstoke
Basingstoke
Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...
on 11 January 1837.
Further reading
- Haythornthwaite, Philip J.Philip HaythornthwaitePhilip J. Haythornthwaite is a military historian and author, with a particular interest in the Napoleonic Wars. He has written over 40 books.-References:...
Uniforms of Waterloo. Hippocrene, 1974.