Henry William John Byng, 4th Earl of Strafford, KCVO

Royal Victorian Order

The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...

, CB

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...

 (21 August 1831–16 May 1899) was a British peer

Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...

 and courtier

Courtier

A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...

.

Biography

Byng was the second son of George Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford

George Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford

George Stevens Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford, PC , styled Viscount Enfield between 1847 and 1860, was a British peer and Whig politician.-Background, education and military career:...

 and his first wife, Agnes. From 1840 he was a Page of Honour

Page of Honour

While a page is a comparatively low-ranking servant, a Page of Honour is a ceremonial position in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It requires attendance on state occasions, but does not now involve the daily duties which were once attached to the office of page...

 to Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

 and joined the Coldstream Guards

Coldstream Guards

Her Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, also known officially as the Coldstream Guards , is a regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division or Household Division....

 in 1847 as a 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 1854, he was promoted to 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...

, by purchase

Sale of commissions

The sale of commissions was a common practice in most European armies where wealthy and noble officers purchased their rank. Only the Imperial Russian Army and the Prussian Army never used such a system. While initially shunned in the French Revolutionary Army, it was eventually revived in the...

, appointed an Adjutant

Adjutant

Adjutant is a military rank or appointment. In some armies, including most English-speaking ones, it is an officer who assists a more senior officer, while in other armies, especially Francophone ones, it is an NCO , normally corresponding roughly to a Staff Sergeant or Warrant Officer.An Adjutant...

 later that year and a Supernumerary 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. ...

 in 1865.

In 1872, Byng was made a Groom-in-Waiting and then an Equerry

Equerry

An equerry , and related to the French word "écuyer" ) is an officer of honour. Historically, it was a senior attendant with responsibilities for the horses of a person of rank. In contemporary use, it is a personal attendant, usually upon a Sovereign, a member of a Royal Family, or a national...

 two years later. In 1895, he was appointed a CB

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 a KCVO

Royal Victorian Order

The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...

 in 1897. In 1898, he inherited his elder brother's titles and was decapitated

Decapitation

Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...

 by a train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

 at Potter's Bar a year later. http://www.rootsweb.com/~lkawgw/count_de_mauny.html As his sons predeceased him, the titles passed to his brother, Francis

Francis Edmund Cecil Byng, 5th Earl of Strafford

Rev. Francis Edmund Cecil Byng, 5th Earl of Strafford was an English Anglican minister and member of the peerage.- Background :Byng was born 15 January 1835, third son of George Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford...

.

Family

On 15 October 1863, Byng married Countess Henrietta Danneskiold-Samsøe

Danneskiold-Samsøe

Danneskiold-Samsøe is a Danish family of high nobility, formerly holding the island of Samsø as a fief. The family uses a traditional spelling of the name; a modern spelling would be Danneskjold-Samsø....

 (a maternal granddaughter of the 1st Marquess of Ailesbury

Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury

Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury, KT , styled The Honourable Charles Brudenell-Bruce from birth until 1776, Lord Bruce from 1776 to 1814 and The Earl of Ailesbury from 1814 to 1821, was a British peer and politician.-Background:Brudenell-Bruce was the third son of Thomas...

) and they had four children:

• Hon. George Albert Edward Alexander (1867–1893)
• Hon. John George Thomas Wentworth (1870–1894)
• Lady Mary Elizabeth Agnes (d. 1946), married Count Maurice de Mauny Talvande.
• Lady Amy Frederica Alice (1865–1961), married Sidney Agar, 4th Earl of Normanton.

After his wife's death in 1880, Byng married Cora Colgate (an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

widow) but they did not have any children.