Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of, 1769-1852, British soldier and statesman.
Military Achievements
Wellesley entered the army in 1787 and, aided by his brother Richard (later Marquess Wellesley), rose rapidly in rank. He held a command in Flanders (1794-95) and in 1796 went with his regiment to India. After his brother's appointment (1797) as governor-general of India, he received command of a division in the invasion of Mysore and became (1799) governor of Seringapatam. In 1800 he defeated the robber chieftain, Dhundia Wagh, and in 1802 he was made major general. In 1803 he moved against the Marathas, breaking their force of about 40,000 with an army of about 10,000 in a surprise attack. A valuable civil and military adviser to his brother, he returned with him to England in 1805 and was knighted. His election (1806) to Parliament and appointment (1807) as Irish secretary did not prevent him from leading (1807) an expedition against the Danes.
In 1808 he led an expedition to assist Portugal in its revolt against the French. He defeated the French at Roliça and Vimeiro, but was superseded in command. In 1809 he returned to the Iberian Peninsula, where he ultimately assumed command of the British, Portuguese, and Spanish forces in the Peninsular War. Taking advantage of the irregular terrain, Portuguese and Spanish nationalism, and Napoleon's preoccupation with other campaigns and projects, he drove the French beyond the Pyrenees by 1813, though his campaigns were rendered difficult by poor support from the British government. Late in 1813 he invaded S France, and he was at Toulouse when news of Napoleon's abdication (Apr., 1814) arrived.
Returning to England, he received many honors and was created duke of Wellington. He served for a short time as ambassador to Paris, then succeeded Viscount Castlereagh at the peace conference in Vienna; but when Napoleon returned from Elba, he took command of the allied armies. There followed his most famous victory, that in the Waterloo campaign, won in conjunction with the Prussian general, Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. Wellington, again lavishly honored, took charge of the army of occupation in France, exerting his influence to restrain harsh treatment of the defeated French.
Political Career
Wellington, "the iron duke," with the soldier's taste for discipline and order and the aristocrat's distrust of democratic institutions, lent his great prestige to the Tory policy of repression at home and took a cabinet post as master general of the ordnance (1819). He represented England at the Congress of Verona (1822), where he opposed intervention in the Spanish revolt, and at the conference at St. Petersburg (1826) that concerned itself with the revolt in Greece, but he was not in sympathy with the liberal foreign policy of George Canning and resigned (1827) when Canning became prime minister.
In 1828 Wellington himself reluctantly became prime minister. He bowed to public clamor and allowed the repeal of the Test Act and Corporation Act and the passage of the Catholic Emancipation bill (reforms he had previously opposed), but he lost the support of much of the Tory party as a consequence. When he declared against parliamentary reform, the ministry fell (1830), and his unpopularity subjected him to an assault by a mob. He refused to form a government in 1834, but served under Sir Robert Peel as foreign secretary (1834-35) and again (1841-46) as minister without portfolio. On the repeal of the corn laws he supported Peel, while not wholly approving his policy. In 1842 he was made commander in chief for life. He is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.
Bibliography
See his dispatches and other papers (pub. in 3 series, 1834-39, 1858-72, 1867-80); biographies by J. W. Fortescue (1925, 3d ed. 1960), P. Guedalla (1931), C. Petrie (1956), E. Longford (2 vol., 1969-72), A. Bryant (1971), and C. Hibbert (1997); studies by G. Davies (1954) and N. Thompson (1986).
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Tyrconnel, Richard Talbot, duke and earl of, 1630-91, Irish Jacobite. He escaped from Ireland after Oliver Cromwell's punitive campaign there (1649) and was party to various intrigues to restore the monarchy. After the Restoration (1660) he joined the household of the duke of York (later James II) and used his influence at court to promote his own interests. He was arrested and exiled for supposed complicity in the Popish Plot (see
Oates, Titus), but after the accession (1685) of James II, he was created earl (1685) and sent as commander in chief of the forces in Ireland. In this capacity and as lord deputy (1687-88) he placed Catholics in many key positions. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, James crossed to Ireland and created Tyrconnel a duke—a title recognized only by the Jacobites. After defeat in the battle of the Boyne (1690) Tyrconnel went to France for aid. He returned in 1691, but died suddenly just before the fall of Limerick.
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Suffolk, Henry Grey, duke of, d. 1554, English nobleman. He became 3d marquess of Dorset on his father's death (1530), and in 1534 he married Frances, daughter of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, and Mary of England (sister of Henry VIII). During Henry's reign he was active at court. Upon the accession (1547) of Edward VI, Grey at first supported the protectorship of the duke of Somerset but soon shifted his allegiance to John Dudley, earl of Warwick (later duke of
Northumberland). He received favors at court and was created (1551) duke of Suffolk through his wife's claim. Lady Jane
Grey was his daughter, and, upon the death (1553) of Edward, Suffolk joined Northumberland's plot to place her on the throne. However, when the plot failed, he deserted her cause and proclaimed Mary I queen. He was pardoned, largely because of his wife's friendship with Mary, but in 1554 he joined the rebellion of Sir Thomas
Wyatt and was soon captured, convicted of treason, and executed.
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Suffolk, Charles Brandon, 1st duke of, d. 1545, English nobleman. A member of the court of Henry VIII, he received many preferments. He was created (1513) Viscount Lisle on his betrothal to his ward, Elizabeth Grey, Viscountess Lisle (in her own right), but the title was canceled when Elizabeth, on coming of age, refused to marry him. He was created duke of Suffolk in 1514, perhaps to aid him in his suit of Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands. In 1515, while on an embassy to the new king of France, Francis I, Suffolk married
Mary of England, recent widow of Louis XII of France and sister of Henry VIII. This ambitious marriage, complicated by the fact that one of Brandon's two former wives was still living, angered Henry, and it was only by the payment of jewels and large sums of money that the couple regained favor. Suffolk accompanied Henry to the Field of the Cloth of Gold (1520) and led an invading army into France (1523). He supported the king's divorce from Katharine of Aragón, received confiscated monastery lands, led troops against the rebels in the Pilgrimage of Grace (1536), and led an invasion of France (1544).
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Stuart or Stewart, Robert, 1st duke of Albany, 1340?-1420, regent of Scotland; third son of Robert II. As earl of Fife and Monteith, he held commands under his father and more than once raided England, leading the invasion of 1388. Because of his father's old age he was given the power of government in 1389; he continued it during the reign of
Robert III, his infirm brother. Made duke of Albany in 1398, in 1399 he was forced to give up the regency to his nephew, David
Stuart, duke of Rothesay. Rothesay died (1402) in the custody of Albany and Archibald Douglas, 4th earl of Douglas, both of whom were officially declared guiltless of his death. Albany became governor or warden again and continued in that position after Robert III's death because the new king,
James I, was a prisoner in England. During Albany's rule the struggle with England went on, and the Scottish alliance with France was continued. At home he allowed the nobles much power but put down (1411) a rebellion of Donald MacDonald, lord of the Isles. Apparently Albany tried to make his sovereignty hereditary in all but name, and he was succeeded as regent by his son Murdoch, 2d duke of Albany. The latter proved a weak ruler, however, and was executed (1425) after James I's return to Scotland.
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Stuart or Stewart, Ludovick, 2d duke of Lennox and duke of Richmond, 1574-1624, Scottish nobleman; son of Esmé Stuart, 1st duke of Lennox, and cousin of James VI of Scotland (James I of England). He succeeded to the dukedom of Lennox in 1583 and soon gained the favor of the king. He was named president of the council during James's absence in 1588. Despite his opposition to Ludovick's marriage to Lady Jane Ruthven, the king appointed him (1591) lord high admiral. Lennox accompanied James to England in 1603 and was appointed to the English privy council. He served as ambassador to Paris (1604-5) and was appointed high commissioner to the Scottish Parliament (1607). In 1623 he was created duke of Richmond. He left no children and was succeeded as duke of Lennox by his brother, Esmé.
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Stuart or Stewart, John, duke of Albany, 1481-1536, regent of Scotland; son of Alexander Stuart, duke of Albany, and grandson of James II of Scotland. He was brought up on his estates in France by his mother, Anne de la Tour d'Auvergne, and always considered himself French. Shortly after the death (1513) of James IV, the Scottish nobles asked Albany, as heir presumptive, to assume the government for the infant
James V, but Albany's own lack of enthusiasm and the influence of Henry VIII of England prevented his departure from France until 1515. Upon arrival in Scotland, he assumed the regency forfeited by
Margaret Tudor (the queen dowager and sister of Henry VIII) as a result of her marriage to Archibald
Douglas, 6th earl of Angus. Albany gained possession of Margaret's children and crushed a rebellion led by Lord Home, Angus, and James
Hamilton, 1st earl of Arran. Margaret fled to England and accused Albany of poisoning her infant son, the earl of Ross. Henry VIII's request to the Scottish Parliament for Albany's dismissal was emphatically refused, the duke being declared (1516) heir to the Scottish throne. Since conditions in Scotland seemed fairly stable, Albany returned (1517) temporarily to France, where he negotiated the Treaty of Rouen (renewing the alliance between France and Scotland and providing for the marriage of James V to a French princess) and promoted the interests of Scottish merchants. By a secret agreement between France and England, Albany was prevented from returning to Scotland until 1521. Margaret, who had broken with Angus, enlisted Albany's aid in securing a divorce, and false rumors (possibly started by Cardinal Wolsey) were circulated of their intimacy and projected marriage. Henry again demanded the dismissal of Albany, and, when the Scots refused, English forces raided (1522) the Scottish border. Albany led an army toward Carlisle, but the Scots refused to fight outside their own country, and the force disbanded. Albany returned to France, and Margaret in his absence used her influence in the interests of England. Albany returned in 1523 with French troops and gold, but a subsequent lack of military success on the border destroyed his prestige. While on a visit to France in 1524, Albany's regency was annulled, and he never returned to Scotland. He later served (1525) with the French army in Italy and was French ambassador to Rome (1530-33).
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Stuart or Stewart, Esmé, 1st duke of Lennox, 1542?-1583, Scottish nobleman; cousin to James VI of Scotland (later
James I of England). Born and reared in France, he succeeded his father as seigneur d'Aubigny in 1567. In 1579 he was sent to Scotland by the Guise family to restore French influence and weaken Protestantism. He soon won the friendship of the young King James, was admitted to the council, and was created successively earl (1580) and duke (1581) of Lennox. Although Lennox publicly proclaimed his conversion to Protestantism in 1580, he was suspected (with reason) of complicity in a projected Spanish invasion of England to release Mary Queen of Scots. This, with Lennox's part in the arrest and execution (1581) of the earl of Morton, led to the Protestant nobles' seizure of James in the raid of Ruthven (1582). Against both his own and the king's wishes, Lennox was forced to leave Scotland. He died shortly thereafter.
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Stuart or Stewart, David, duke of Rothesay, 1378?-1402, Scottish prince; son and heir apparent of Robert III. On his father's accession (1390) to the throne, David became earl of Carrick and in 1398 duke of Rothesay. In 1399 he was made lieutenant of the kingdom by his invalid father and given sovereign powers for a three-year term, thus displacing the regency of his uncle Robert
Stuart, 1st duke of Albany. In 1402, at the end of Rothesay's tenure of office, Albany and Archibald Douglas, 4th earl of Douglas, had him arrested and imprisoned. He died, under questionable circumstances, in their custody.
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Stuart or Stewart, Alexander, duke of Albany, 1454?-1485, Scottish nobleman; second son of James II of Scotland. He was captured (1463) by the English while he was at sea en route to the Low Countries but was soon released. He became high admiral of Scotland, warden of the marches, and lieutenant of the kingdom. In 1479, however, his brother
James III, suspecting Albany of plotting against the throne, had him imprisoned. Albany escaped to France and thence went to England, where he concluded (1481) a treaty with Edward IV, by which the English king agreed to recognize Albany as king of Scotland if the latter became his vassal. An English army invaded Scotland (1482), but Albany was persuaded by some of the Scottish nobles to renounce his pretensions to the throne in return for the restoration of his estates. He was briefly reconciled with James, but in 1483 he was sentenced to death and fled to England. After raiding Scotland in 1484, he went to France, where he was accidentally killed in a tournament.
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Stafford, Humphrey, 1st duke of Buckingham, 1402-60, English nobleman. He succeeded his father as earl of Stafford in 1403. He inherited the title of earl of Buckingham through his mother, Anne, countess of Buckingham, who was a daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester (son of Edward III). He served in France in the Hundred Years War as soldier and administrator. Made duke in 1444, he was later granted some of the estates of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, whose policies he had opposed. In the Wars of the Roses he supported the Lancastrians and was killed at the battle of Northampton.
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Stafford, Henry, 2d duke of Buckingham, 1454?-1483, English nobleman. He was the grandson of Humphrey Stafford, the 1st duke, whom he succeeded in 1460. He passed the death sentence on George, duke of Clarence, in 1478, but it was not until the death (1483) of Edward IV that Buckingham achieved political prominence. Though married to a sister of Edward's widow, Elizabeth Woodville, he joined Richard of Gloucester (later
Richard III) in taking custody of the young
Edward V from the queen mother and figured largely in the political plot by which Richard seized the throne. He was given enormous power, especially in W England and Wales, but soon, for reasons not clear, he rebelled against Richard, intending to place Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) on the throne. His army, gathered in the west, was prevented from advancing by floods of the Wye and Severn rivers and soon dispersed. He went into hiding, was betrayed by one of his retainers, tried as a traitor, and beheaded. It has been suggested that, as constable of the Tower of London, Buckingham, rather than Richard III, was the probable murderer of the two princes held in the Tower.
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Stafford, Edward, 3d duke of Buckingham, 1478-1521, English nobleman; son of Henry Stafford, 2d duke of Buckingham. The attainder (1483) of his father was reversed on the accession (1485) of Henry VII, and after Henry VIII came to the throne (1509), he was made lord high constable, lord high steward, and a privy councilor. However, although Buckingham appeared to be high in the favor of Henry VIII, the king was both jealous and suspicious of him because of his wealth, his lands, and his descent; on the paternal side he was a descendant of Thomas of Woodstock, son of Edward III, and his mother was a sister of Edward IV's queen. He came to represent those nobles who resented the power of Cardinal Wolsey and their own exclusion from high offices. In 1521, Buckingham was arrested and tried on trumped-up charges that he had countenanced prophecies of his own succession to the throne and had expressed his intention to murder the king. He was executed.
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Somerset, Edward Seymour, duke of, 1506?-1552, protector of England. He served on various military and diplomatic missions for Henry VIII and, after the marriage of his sister Jane to the king, was created Viscount Beauchamp (1536) and earl of Hertford (1537). In 1544, as lieutenant general in the north, he invaded Scotland and captured and burned Edinburgh. He took part in the 1545 expedition against Boulogne and became captain general there in 1546. On the death (1547) of Henry VIII Seymour gained custody of the young heir,
Edward VI (who was Seymour's nephew) and was named protector of the realm by the council of regency. Shortly thereafter he took the posts of lord treasurer and earl marshal and the title duke of Somerset. He managed to free himself from the restrictions of the council and wielded almost royal authority in effecting major Protestant reforms in the church and in relaxing such measures as the heresy and treason laws. He was ably seconded by Archbishop Thomas
Cranmer, and their efforts resulted in the adoption of the first Book of Common Prayer, whose use was required by an Act of Uniformity in 1549. Meanwhile Somerset tried to enforce a marriage treaty arranged by Henry VIII between the young Edward VI and Mary Queen of Scots. He invaded Scotland, crushed his opponents at Pinkie (1547), and completely alienated the Scots when he laid waste to SE Scotland. The fall and execution (1549) of his brother, Baron
Seymour of Sudeley, lord high admiral, was a strong blow to the protector's authority and power, and John Dudley, earl of Warwick (later duke of
Northumberland) took advantage of this and other misfortunes. Joining Thomas Wriothesley, earl of Southampton, and others, he deprived (1549) Somerset of the protectorate and imprisoned him in the Tower of London. Somerset was released in 1550, but a revival of his influence led Warwick to arrest (1551) him again, whereupon he was convicted (1552) on a charge of felony and beheaded. Somerset was a man of firm beliefs and military ability.
See M. L. Bush, The Government Policy of Protector Somerset (1975).
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Somerset, Edmund Beaufort, 2d duke of, d. 1455, English statesman and general. He fought in France in the Hundred Years War, receiving his first command in 1431, recapturing Harfleur in 1440, and relieving Calais in 1442. For this last feat he was made (1442) earl of Dorset. In 1444 he succeeded his brother John as earl of Somerset. He became lieutenant of France in 1447 and was created duke of Somerset in 1448. After the war in France was resumed in 1449, Somerset's army was consistently defeated, and by 1453 all of England's French possessions except Calais had been lost. Since the murder (1450) of William de la Pole, 1st duke of Suffolk, Somerset had been the head of the court faction and was protected by
Henry VI against popular resentment and the attacks of the Yorkists. He was imprisoned by Richard, duke of
York, during Henry's first period of insanity (1453-55) but returned to power when the king recovered. Somerset was killed at St. Albans in the first battle of the Wars of the Roses.
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Shrewsbury, Charles Talbot, duke of, 1660-1718, English statesman. Brought up a Roman Catholic, he embraced Protestantism in 1679. A powerful Whig, he was one of the seven nobles who signed the invitation to William of Orange (later
William III) to take the throne in 1688. After the
Glorious Revolution, William made him (1689) secretary of state and privy councilor. He resigned in 1690, but William reappointed him in 1694 and made him duke of Shrewsbury. Despite persistent rumors of his correspondence with the Jacobites, it was against William's will that he resigned in 1699. Shrewsbury lived in Rome, uninvolved in politics, until 1706. On his return to England, he was won over by Robert Harley to the Tory cause, became lord chamberlain (1710), lord lieutenant of Ireland (1713), and lord treasurer (1714). He supported the Hanoverian succession and was briefly (1714-15) lord chamberlain under George I.
See biography by D. H. Somerville (1962).
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Schomberg, Frederick Herman, 1st duke of, Ger. Friedrich Hermann von Schönberg, 1615-90, German soldier of fortune. After serving on the Protestant side in the Thirty Years War, he entered French service in the early 1650s during the Fronde. From 1659 to 1668 Schomberg commanded a French army helping Portugal win independence from Spain. Schomberg distinguished himself in the Third Dutch War (1672-78) and was created marshal of France and duke by King Louis XIV. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), Schomberg, a Protestant, left France and entered the service of the elector of Brandenburg, who made him commander in chief of the army of Brandenburg in 1687. He assisted (1688) William III of Orange, who was allied with Brandenburg, in the Glorious Revolution. Created (1689) duke of Schomberg in the English peerage, he was given command of the English forces in Ireland. He was killed there in the battle of the Boyne.
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Russell, William, 5th earl and 1st duke of Bedford: see
Russell, family.
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Rothesay, David Stuart, duke of: see
Stuart, David, duke of Rothesay.
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Richmond and Lennox, Charles Lennox, 3d duke of, 1735-1806, British statesman. He was secretary of state for the south of Europe (1766) and became a staunch defender of the cause of the American colonies. In 1780 he introduced a reform bill that advocated annual Parliaments, manhood suffrage, and equal electoral districts. His famous letter advocating universal suffrage was first published in 1783. Serving in the cabinet as master general of the ordnance (1782-83 and 1784-95), he gradually abandoned the cause of reform.
See study by A. G. Olson (1961).
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Reichstadt, Napoleon, duke of: see
Napoleon II.
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Queensberry, James Douglas, 2d duke of, 1662-1711, Scottish statesman. One of the early supporters of William III in Scotland, he held offices under him and Queen Anne, rising to become commissioner to the Scottish Parliament (1700) and a secretary of state for Scotland (1702). Duped by an intrigue of Baron
Lovat, he falsely accused John
Murray, 2d marquess and 1st duke of Atholl, of Jacobite activities and for that mistake was dismissed in 1703. Restored to favor (1705) with the offices of lord privy seal and lord of the treasury, he worked hard for the union with England as commissioner to the Scottish Parliament. In 1708 he was created duke of Dover (in the English peerage), and in 1709 he was made third secretary of state for Great Britain.
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Portland, William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3d duke of, 1738-1809, British statesman; great-grandson of the 1st earl of Portland. He was lord lieutenant of Ireland (1782) and nominal head of the coalition ministry (1783) dominated by Charles James Fox and Lord North. When the French Revolution shocked the British into passing severe laws against agitators, Portland, as home secretary (1794-1801) under William Pitt, administered them. He promoted the parliamentary union (1800) of Ireland with England and was again—and uneventfully—prime minister from 1807 to 1809.
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Ormonde, James Butler, 2d duke of, 1665-1745, Irish soldier. He was the son of Thomas Butler, earl of Ossory, and grandson of the Ist duke, whom he succeeded in 1688. A staunch Tory and popular military figure, he supported the cause of William of Orange (William III) and fought in the battle of the Boyne (1690). Early in the War of the Spanish Succession he commanded (1702) land forces in the fruitless expedition against Cádiz. Later, as lord lieutenant of Ireland (1703-6, 1710-13) and as the duke of Marlborough's successor (1711) in command of the forces, he appeared to be one of the most powerful men in the kingdom. He became involved, however, in the plot to prevent the accession of George I, and in 1715 he was impeached. Fleeing to France, he was attainted, took part in the risings of the Jacobites in 1715 and 1719, and spent the rest of his life in exile.
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Ormonde, James Butler, 12th earl and 1st duke of, 1610-88, Irish statesman, most powerful royalist influence in Ireland during the
English civil war. A ward of the crown after the death (1619) of his father, Viscount Thurles, he was brought up a Protestant and in 1629 he married the heiress of the earl of Desmond. In Ireland from 1633, Ormonde gained the favor of Thomas Wentworth (later 1st earl of
Strafford). In 1640, he was placed in command of the army in Ireland as lieutenant general. As lieutenant general, he fought the Irish rebels in 1641 and, although greatly hampered by the Irish lords justices, defeated the rebels at Killsalghen and Kilrush. He was made a marquess in 1642, again defeated (1943) the rebels, and, under orders from Charles I, concluded the treaty of "cessation," placing most of Ireland in the hands of the Confederate Catholics. He then served (1644-47) as lord lieutenant of Ireland, where he skillfully maintained himself against both Catholic rebels and the Protestant adherents of the English parliament. In 1647, however, he made terms with Parliament in order to restore peace in Ireland and gave up his office. He joined (1648) the queen and Prince Charles in Paris, but in 1649 he returned to Ireland and proclaimed the prince as King Charles II. Leaving the island at the insistence of Charles, he commissioned (1650) the earl of
Clanricarde as his deputy. Ormonde represented Charles in the negotiations preceding the Restoration, and after 1660 he was given numerous offices and titles, including privy councillor, lord high steward of England, earl of Brecknock (in the English peerage) and duke of Ormonde (Irish; also English in 1682). Again lord lieutenant of Ireland, he worked to promote Irish trade and to effect the complicated business of restoration of property. He was unpopular with the Restoration court, especially with the 2d duke of
Buckingham, who apparently instigated (1669) an unsuccessful attempt on Ormonde's life. Ormonde was removed (1669) as lord lieutenant but was restored to office in 1677. Because of his mild anti-Catholic measures at the time of the Popish Plot (see
Oates, Titus), he was attacked by the 1st earl of
Shaftesbury. He was again removed from the lord lieutenancy in 1684 as a result of intrigue. Thereafter he emerged from retirement only to oppose James II's attempt to dispense with the anti-Catholic laws. He survived his son, the earl of Ossory, and was succeeded by his grandson. In an age of complex loyalties, Ormonde directed his considerable talents to the support of the Stuarts, except when opposition to Parliament seemed hopeless.
See biographies by T. Carte (6 vol., 1851) and Lady Burghclere (2 vol., 1912).
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Northumberland, John Dudley, duke of, 1502?-1553, English statesman. The son of Edmund Dudley, minister of Henry VII, John was restored to his inheritance in 1512 after his father's attainder and execution (1510). Rising by means of his military ability, he became Viscount Lisle, warden of the Scottish Marches (1542), and lord high admiral (1543). Named as one of the executors of Henry VIII's will, he helped Edward Seymour, later duke of
Somerset, become protector of the young
Edward VI, while he himself was created earl of Warwick and lord high chamberlain. Cooperative and politic, he dissembled his plans for power while distinguishing himself in the field; he took part (1547) in the victory over the Scots at Pinkie and suppressed (1549) the rebellion of Robert
Kett. By never actually committing himself and by playing on both Catholic and Protestant sympathies, he finally formed a coalition against Somerset, deposing him in 1549 and having him executed in 1552. Of little religious conviction himself, he then posed as a firm Protestant to increase his power over Edward VI and ruthlessly advanced the Reformation for political ends. He made himself duke of Northumberland in 1551. In a desperate plan to perpetuate his power, he convinced the dying Edward that the latter's sister Mary should be excluded from the succession as a Catholic, and he browbeat the council into proclaiming Lady Jane
Grey, his daughter-in-law, as queen when the monarch died (1553). Unpopular with the people, he was deserted by his army and forced to surrender to Queen Mary I. He was condemned for high treason and was executed.
See biography by B. L. Beer (1974); J. D. Mackie, The Earlier Tudors (1952); W. K. Jordan, Edward VI: The Threshold of Power (1970).
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Northumberland, Hugh Percy, 2d duke of, 1742-1817, British general. He fought on the Continent in the Seven Years War and, although he disapproved of the war against the colonists in America, served there (1774-77) as a lieutenant general. He covered the bloody British retreat from Concord to Charlestown after the battle of Lexington and took part in the attack on Fort Washington. Recalled at his own request, following disputes with Gen. William Howe, he was made a general in 1793.
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Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray, 1st duke of, c.1366-1399, English nobleman. He was created earl of Nottingham in 1383, and in 1385 he was made earl marshal of England for life. He joined Thomas of Woodstock, duke of
Gloucester, and the other baronial opponents of
Richard II in 1387 and was one of the five lords appellant who "appealed" (i.e., accused) the king's favorites of treason and secured their conviction in the Merciless Parliament of 1388. After Richard regained control in 1389, however, he was conciliatory to Nottingham, who accompanied him to Ireland in 1394. In 1397, Nottingham aided the king in bringing to trial his former associates, Gloucester and the earls of Arundel and Warwick. Gloucester was placed in his custody, and he was possibly responsible for his murder. Although created duke of Norfolk in 1397, he began to fear that the king might turn on him and confided in the other remaining lord appellant, the duke of Hereford (later
Henry IV). A dispute arose between Norfolk and Hereford when Hereford told the king of Norfolk's suspicions, and trial by combat was proposed. At the last moment, however, Richard intervened and banished both from the country, Norfolk for life. He died in Italy. A version of the story is told in Shakespeare's
Richard II.
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Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 4th duke of, 1536-72, English nobleman, son of Henry Howard, earl of Surrey. He succeeded his grandfather, the 3d duke, in 1554. He was favored by Queen Elizabeth I, although he was jealous of the larger measure of confidence she placed in Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester. Norfolk commanded the English forces that intervened in Scotland in 1559-60 and in 1568 was chief of the commission that inquired into Scottish affairs after the flight of
Mary Queen of Scots to England. A widower, he conducted secret negotiations for Mary's hand. Elizabeth heard of the project, however, and forbade it, and Norfolk was imprisoned (1569-70). On his release Norfolk was drawn into the plot of Ridolfi, agent of Philip II of Spain, who was planning a Spanish invasion and the dethronement of Elizabeth. The plot was discovered, Norfolk was imprisoned (1571) in the Tower of London, tried, and beheaded.
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Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 3d duke of, 1473-1554, English nobleman, prominent in the reign of
Henry VIII; son of Thomas Howard, the 2d duke. He married (1495) a daughter of Edward IV and thus became brother-in-law to Henry VII. He fought (1513) against the Scots at Flodden and became (1514) earl of Surrey when his father was made duke of Norfolk. After his first wife's death he married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Stafford, 3d duke of Buckingham. He served (1520-21) as lord lieutenant of Ireland. Succeeding his father as lord high treasurer in 1522 and as duke of Norfolk in 1524, Norfolk led the opposition to Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey. He supported Henry VIII's divorce from Katharine of Aragón and his marriage (1533) to Norfolk's niece Anne Boleyn. Later he presided (1536) at the trial and execution of Anne. Although Norfolk conducted the campaign against the Pilgrimage of Grace (1536), he remained Catholic. He was an enemy of Thomas
Cromwell and instrumental in bringing about his fall (1540). After the execution in 1542 of another of his nieces, Catherine
Howard, Henry's fifth queen, Norfolk's influence waned, and he was forced back into the position of a mere military commander. In 1546 he and his son Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, were charged with treason. Surrey was executed, but Norfolk was saved by the death of the king. He was released (1553) from prison on the accession of Mary I and restored to his dukedom. He successfully led the forces against the rebellion (1554) of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the younger.
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Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 2d duke of, 1443-1524, English nobleman, son of John Howard, 1st duke of Norfolk. He fought at the battle of Bosworth (1485) in which his father was killed. He himself was captured, attainted, and placed in the Tower of London. He was released (1489) by Henry VII and restored to the earldom of Surrey, which he had received in 1483, but not to the dukedom of Norfolk. He was entrusted by Henry VII with the care of the northern borders and in 1501 was made lord treasurer. Recognized as the leading general in England, he commanded the army that defeated (1513) the Scots at Flodden and was created (1514) duke of Norfolk. Although an influential member of Henry VIII's privy council, he was gradually forced to relinquish much of his power to the ascending Thomas Wolsey. He served as guardian of the realm during Henry's absence in 1520. In 1521, acting as lord high steward, he was compelled to sentence his friend Edward
Stafford, 3d duke of Buckingham, to death.
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Norfolk, John Howard, 1st duke of, 1430?-1485, English nobleman. The grandson of Thomas Mowbray, 1st duke of Norfolk, he held considerable estates in Norfolk. A faithful adherent of the house of York in the Wars of the Roses, he was made sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk by Edward IV and entrusted with diplomatic missions. He later supported Richard III, who in 1483 made him the 1st duke of Norfolk of the
Howard family (the Mowbray line having died out in 1476) and earl marshal of England. Norfolk was killed at the battle of Bosworth.
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Newcastle, William Cavendish, duke of, 1593?-1676, English soldier and politician. Of great wealth, Cavendish became (1638) governor of the prince of Wales and a privy councilor. During the civil war he supplied financial and military aid to the royalist cause, raising, maintaining, and leading troops in the northern counties. He was at first successful, but part of his force was defeated at Winceby by Oliver Cromwell in 1643, and after his defeat with Prince Rupert at Marston Moor in 1644 he retired to the Continent. He returned to England with Charles II at the Restoration, having expended nearly £1 million in the royalist cause. His estates were restored, and he was created duke of Newcastle in 1665. He engaged little in politics thereafter. Newcastle wrote several plays and books on horsemanship and was a lifelong patron of writers, among others Ben Jonson (who wrote two masques for the entertainment of Charles I at Newcastle's Welbeck estate in 1633 and 1634) and, later, John Dryden. His second wife,
Margaret (Lucas) Cavendish, duchess of Newcastle, 1623?-1673, achieved contemporary notice for her poems, plays, essays, scientific treatises, letters, orations, and fantasies. Her biography of her husband (1667) was edited by C. H. Firth (1906).
See H. T. E. Perry, The First Duchess of Newcastle and Her Husband as Figures in Literary History (1918); D. Grant, Margaret the First (1957).
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Newcastle, Thomas Pelham-Holles, duke of, 1693-1768, English politician, brother of Henry
Pelham. He inherited (1711) the estates of his uncle, John Holles, duke of Newcastle, adopted his name, and received (1715) his title. In 1724 he became secretary of state under Sir Robert
Walpole, and he retained that position after Walpole's fall and through his brother's long ministry (1743-54). In 1754 he succeeded his brother as first lord of the treasury, or prime minister. His weak policy in the Seven Years War led to his resignation in 1756, but the next year he returned to power as nominal head of a coalition ministry with William Pitt, later 1st earl of
Chatham. Forced (1762) out of office by George III's favorite, Lord Bute, he later served (1765) as lord privy seal under the marquess of Rockingham. Newcastle was ineffective and irresolute in his conduct of public affairs, but he wielded immense political influence through his clever use of patronage, helping to provide parliamentary majorities for Walpole, Pelham, and Pitt.
See B. Williams, Carteret and Newcastle (1943, repr. 1966); J. B. Owen, The Rise of the Pelhams (1957, repr. 1971); R. A. Kelch, Newcastle; A Duke without Money (1974); R. Middleton, The Bells of Victory: The Pitt-Newcastle Victory and the Conduct of the Seven Years' War (1985).
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Murray, John, 2d marquess and 1st duke of Atholl, 1660-1724, Scottish nobleman; son of the 2d earl and 1st marquess. A supporter of William III, he held high government posts in Scotland and was created duke in 1703. He successfully weathered a plot against him by Simon Fraser, Baron
Lovat, and James Douglas, 2d duke of
Queensberry. A vigorous opponent of the union (1707) of England and Scotland, he was suspected of Jacobite leanings. Nonetheless, he supported the accession (1714) of George I (although he lost office) and remained loyal to the government during the Jacobite uprising of 1715.
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Monmouth, James Scott, duke of, 1649-85, pretender to the English throne; illegitimate son of Charles II of England by Lucy
Walter. After his mother's death, he was cared for by Lord Crofts, by whose name the boy was known. In 1662, James went to live at Charles's court. Charles acknowledged him as his son, created him (1663) duke of Monmouth, and married him to Anne Scott, countess of Buccleuch, whose name James now adopted. He held military commands on the Continent (1672-74), became captain general in 1678, and defeated the Scottish Covenanters at Bothwell Bridge in 1679. Politically he became very important after feeling against the succession of the Roman Catholic duke of York (later
James II) was heightened at the time of the Popish Plot agitation in 1678. The 1st earl of
Shaftesbury and other supporters of a Protestant succession championed Monmouth as heir to Charles and tried in vain to get Charles to prove his son legitimate. In 1679, Charles sent both Monmouth and the duke of York into exile. When Monmouth returned without the king's permission, he was forbidden to come to court but was received enthusiastically in London and the western counties. Monmouth worked with Shaftesbury and the Whig party for the exclusion of James from the succession, and after the arrest of Shaftesbury for treason in 1681 he was heard to speak openly of rebellion. When the
Rye House Plot was discovered (1683) and some of the Whig leaders were arrested, Monmouth fled to Holland. James II succeeded Charles in Feb., 1685. In June, Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis, Dorset, and raised a small force. At Taunton he was proclaimed king, and for a short time his chances for success looked very promising. But the gentry failed to come to his support, and his army was routed at Sedgemoor by James's troops, led by John Churchill (later duke of Marlborough). Monmouth was captured and beheaded in London on July 15.
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Monck or Monk, George, 1st duke of Albemarle, 1608-70, English soldier and politician. He took part (1625) in the disastrous expedition against Cádiz and fought against the Spanish in the Netherlands. After service in the
Bishops' Wars, he was given a command in Ireland and was there when the
English civil war began (1642). He returned to England to fight for Charles I, was captured (1644) at Nantwich, and was not released until 1646. He gained the confidence of Parliament and was commissioned to help subdue the Irish rebellion. In 1650 he accompanied Oliver
Cromwell to Scotland and in 1651 was left to complete the subjugation of the Scots. In 1652 he became a general of the fleet in the first of the
Dutch Wars, and in 1654 he resumed his command in Scotland, which he held until 1660. Monck believed in the supremacy of civil authority over the military, and when the Protectorate of Richard
Cromwell collapsed (1659), he supported the reassembled Rump Parliament (what remained of the Long Parliament after Pride's Purge of 1648) against the army under Gen. John
Lambert. Having marched (1660) on London and seized control, however, he ordered the Rump to fill its vacant seats and then dissolve itself prior to the election of a "free" Parliament. Monck was an effective diplomat as well as an able soldier. In the next months he applied himself to the delicate task of reconciling the army (largely republican) to growing public sympathy for a restoration of the Stuart monarchy. Following the election of the strongly royalist Convention Parliament, he finally declared openly for the
Restoration of Charles II, convinced that it was the only alternative to anarchy. Acting on Monck's advice, Charles issued the Delcaration of Breda, and Monck secured an invitation for Charles to return. After the Restoration, honors were heaped upon Monck: he was appointed gentleman of the bedchamber, privy councillor, master of the horse, and commander of all military forces; created duke of Albemarle; and granted estates and a pension. In 1666 he shared with Prince Rupert command of the fleet in the second Dutch War. He was left in charge of London at the time of the great plague (1665) and the great fire (1666).
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Marlborough, John Churchill, 1st duke of, 1650-1722, English general and statesman, one of the greatest military commanders of history. A great strategist and a shrewd diplomat, he has been criticized for inordinate love of wealth and power and for inconstant loyalties in politics.
Under James II and William III
The son of an impoverished squire, he became (1665) a page of the duke of York (later James II) and entered (1667) the army. He rose rapidly under York's patronage and c.1678 married Sarah Jennings (see Marlborough, Sarah Churchill, duchess of), attendant and friend of Princess (later Queen) Anne. Under James II he was active in crushing the rebellion (1685) of the duke of Monmouth and was raised to the peerage and made a major general.
Nevertheless, fearing the religious policies of the Roman Catholic king, and concerned about his own career, he corresponded with William of Orange (later William III) and supported him against James in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was created earl of Marlborough at William's coronation (1689). Marlborough was successful as a military commander in 1689 and 1690, but William's poor treatment of Anne offended him, and William began to resent Marlborough's ambition and ability. When Marlborough began secret communication with the exiled James II, he was discovered and lost royal favor (1692-98).
Power and Dismissal under Anne
In 1702, when Anne ascended the throne, Marlborough reached the fullness of his power. His military genius and remarkable gift for foreign diplomacy were given wide scope in the War of the Spanish Succession. His personal efforts long held together the anti-French alliance. He and Prince Eugene of Savoy together won such victories as Blenheim (1704), Oudenarde (1708), and Malplaquet (1709), and he alone is credited with Ramillies (1706) and countless other triumphs.
Marlborough, made a duke in 1702, also enjoyed political ascendancy, largely as a result of his wife's influence over the queen. Marlborough and his friend Sidney Godolphin, as well as the queen, although earlier bound by personal and religious ties to the Tories, turned to the Whigs, who favored the war while the Tories opposed it. They secured the dismissal of Robert Harley in 1708 and were momentarily paramount in politics. The duchess, however, quarreled with Anne, who came under the influence of Abigail Masham, Harley's cousin; the war was costly, and Marlborough was accused of prolonging it for his personal glory; the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell was unpopular; and in 1710 the Whigs fell, yielding power to Harley and Henry St. John (later Viscount Bolingbroke).
The duke was falsely charged with misappropriating public funds and was dismissed (1711) from office. He returned to England from self-imposed exile upon the accession of George I in 1714 and was given chief command of the army again, but he took little further part in public affairs.
Bibliography
See the duke's letters and dispatches (ed. by Sir George Murray, 1845); the exhaustive biography of him by his descendant Winston S. Churchill (1933-38, repr. 1982) and a short one by M. P. Ashley (1939, repr. 1957); studies by C. T. Atkinson (1921), F. Taylor (1921), I. F. Burton (1968), D. G. Chandler (1973), and D. W. Jones (1988).
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Leeds, Thomas Osborne, 1st duke of: see
Danby, Thomas Osborne, earl of.
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Lauderdale, John Maitland, duke of, 1616-82, Scottish statesman. He entered public life as a staunch Presbyterian and was one of the commissioners who signed the Solemn League and Covenant (1643; see
English civil war). However, in the course of Scottish dealings with Charles I that followed the end of the first civil war, he attached himself to the royalists. He gained the confidence of Charles II, was captured at the battle of Worcester (1650), and was held prisoner until 1660. At the Restoration (1660) Charles II made him secretary of state for Scotland. After 1667 he was a member of the
Cabal ministry and became all-powerful in Scotland. Made earl of March and duke of Lauderdale (in the Scottish peerage) in 1672, he was raised to the English peerage as earl of Guilford and made a privy councillor in 1674. His rule in Scotland was arbitrary and harsh, and his use of Highland troops to suppress the
Covenanters in the southwest provoked an uprising in 1679. Despite attacks in Parliament, he kept his influence by intrigues until 1680, when his health broke. In 1682 he gave up all his offices. Although able, he was arrogant and unscrupulous and ruthless, and was widely disliked.
See study by M. Paglin (1961).
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Lancaster, John of Gaunt, duke of: see
John of Gaunt.
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Kent, George Edward Alexander Edmund, duke of, 1902-42, fourth son of George V of Great Britain. He traveled extensively as "salesman of the empire." A member of the Royal Air Force after 1940, he was killed on active service in a plane crash in Scotland. Three children were born of his marriage (1934) to Princess Marina (1906-68) of Greece: Prince Edward (b. 1935), who succeeded him as duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra (b. 1936), and Prince Michael (b. 1942).
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Kent, Edward Augustus, duke of, 1767-1820, fourth son of George III of Great Britain and father of Queen Victoria. Most of his mature life was spent in military service at Gibraltar, in Canada, and in the West Indies. He was married (1818) to Victoria Mary Louise of Saxe-Coburg.
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Hamilton, William Hamilton, 2d duke of, 1616-51, Scottish nobleman. With his brother James Hamilton, 3d marquess and 1st duke of
Hamilton, he gained favor with Charles I of England. He was created (1639) earl of Lanark and made (1640) secretary of state for Scotland. In 1643, on Charles's orders, he was arrested with his brother for supposed implication in the latter's intrigues, but he escaped (1644). He regained favor when he went in 1646 as one of the Scottish commissioners to treat with Charles at Newcastle. In 1647 he was one of the signers for the Scots of the treaty with Charles known as the Engagement, and he helped to organize the second civil war. After the Scottish defeat at Preston (1648), he fled to Holland. He returned in 1650 with Charles II and joined the Scottish invasion of England. He died of wounds received at the battle of Worcester.
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Hamilton, James Hamilton, 3d marquess and 1st duke of, 1606-49, Scottish nobleman; grandson of John Hamilton, 1st marquess of Hamilton. He succeeded (1625) his father as marquess of Hamilton and earl of Cambridge and was appointed (1628) privy councilor in Scotland. He raised (1630) an army to fight under Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in the Thirty Years War, but his expedition ended in disaster (1633). As Charles I's commissioner in Scotland, he tried to conciliate the
Covenanters in 1638 and, failing, led a force against them in the first Bishops' War. Later his attempt to come to terms with Archibald Campbell, 8th earl of
Argyll, apparently gave rise (1641) to the obscure plot known as the Incident, devised by James Graham, 5th earl of
Montrose, to seize and probably murder Hamilton, his brother William (later 2d duke of Hamilton), and Argyll. Hamilton escaped and managed to retain the confidence of the king, being created duke in 1643. In 1644, however, he was imprisoned by Charles on suspicion of treachery, and he was freed only by parliamentary troops in 1646. In 1648, Hamilton secured ratification in the Scottish Parliament of the agreement known as the Engagement between Charles and the Scots and led the Scottish army that invaded England. Defeated at Preston, he was captured, tried by the same court that condemned Charles, and executed.
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Hamilton, James Douglas, 4th duke of, 1658-1712, Scottish nobleman. He served at the courts of Charles II and James II and remained, after his grudging acceptance of William III, a sympathizer with the Jacobites. He became duke of Hamilton in 1698 and, although he had opposed the union of Scotland with England, entered the united Parliament as a representative Scottish peer in 1708. Coming into favor with the Tory regime after 1710, he was made privy councilor (1710), duke of Brandon (1711), and ambassador to Paris (1712). He was killed in a duel by Lord Mohun before he could go to France. Suspicion of foul play caused the Tories to accuse the Whigs of murdering him, alleging that the Whigs feared he was about to engineer a Jacobite restoration from France. The duel is described in Thackeray's Henry Esmond.
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Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3d duke of, 1735-1811, British statesman. After serving as a secretary of state (1765-66), he became first lord of the treasury in Lord Chatham's administration (1766-68) and, because of Chatham's illness, effective chief minister. He officially became chief minister in 1768. His handling of the John
Wilkes affair and the growing crisis in the American colonies led to the break-up of his ministry, and he resigned in 1770. He was lord privy seal under Lord North (1771-75) and under lords Rockingham (1782) and Shelburne (1782-83).
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Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, duke of, 1355-97, English nobleman; youngest son of
Edward III. He was betrothed (1374) to Eleanor, heiress of Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, and became earl of Buckingham at the coronation of
Richard II (1377). He was the king's lieutenant in France (1380), but returned to England after the failure of his siege of Nantes.
In 1385 he was created duke of Gloucester and soon emerged as the head of the baronial party, which in 1386 forced Richard to dismiss Michael de la Pole, 1st earl of Suffolk (see under Pole, family), as chancellor. In 1388, Gloucester was one of the five "lords appellant" who secured conviction of the king's counselors for treason in the Merciless Parliament. When Richard regained power in 1389, Gloucester made his peace with him and accompanied the king to Ireland in 1394. In 1397, Gloucester was suddenly arrested and imprisoned at Calais. He was probably murdered there a few days before he was "appealed" and condemned for treason by the same procedure as that used in 1388.
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Gloucester, Humphrey, duke of, 1391-1447, English nobleman; youngest son of
Henry IV and Mary de Bohun. He was well educated and had a great interest in humanist scholarship. After the accession of his eldest brother as
Henry V, Humphrey was created (1414) duke of Gloucester and earl of Cambridge. He served in Henry's French campaigns and was wounded at the battle of Agincourt (1415). In 1420-21 he remained in England as regent during Henry's absence.
In 1422, when Henry was succeeded by his infant son, Henry VI, Gloucester claimed the regency. However, Parliament disregarded this claim, which was based on Henry V's will, and made Gloucester's older brother, John of Lancaster, duke of Bedford, protector of the realm. Since Bedford was occupied in France, Gloucester was given the title of protector during his absences, but he had to share his authority with a council of magnates. Gloucester's ensuing struggle for power against his uncle, Henry Beaufort, forced Bedford to return from France several times to reconcile them.
Gloucester married (c.1422) Jacqueline of Hainaut but abandoned (1425) her after their disastrous military expedition to Hainaut. A papal decree of 1428 invalidated that marriage and permitted him to marry his mistress, Eleanor Cobham, but he was severely criticized.
Henry was crowned king of England in 1429 and king of France in 1431, and Beaufort's ascendancy henceforth increased. After the death of Bedford in 1435, Gloucester became heir presumptive, but his influence with the young king waned as he advocated continuing the unsuccessful war in France. When Eleanor, Gloucester's wife, was imprisoned in 1441 for sorcery against the king, Gloucester's political importance was practically ended. In 1447, William de la Pole, 4th earl of Suffolk (see under Pole, family), who had succeeded Beaufort as the king's chief adviser, had Gloucester arrested for treason. The duke fell sick and died in custody.
Gloucester was known as "Good Duke Humphrey," probably because of his patronage of scholars and men of letters. He corresponded with the leaders of the new Italian humanism, had translations made from the Greek classics, and collected a considerable library. His gift of books to the Univ. of Oxford formed the nucleus later restored and developed by Sir Thomas Bodley into the Bodleian Library. However, in matters of state he lacked determination, flitting from one project to another and following through with none. Unable to appear decisive, he thus antagonized all by his assertions of power.
See biography by E. F. Jacob, The Fifteenth Century (1961).
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Gloucester, Henry William Frederick Albert, duke of, 1900-1974, British prince; third son of George V, brother of Edward VIII and George VI, and uncle of Elizabeth II. He was created duke in 1928. He was educated at Sandhurst and made the army his career, serving as a major general in World War II. Governor-general of Australia from 1945 to 1947, he was promoted to the rank of field marshal in 1955.
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Ellington, Duke (Edward Kennedy Ellington), 1899-1974, American jazz musician and composer, b. Washington, D.C. Ellington made his first professional appearance as a jazz pianist in 1916. By 1918 he had formed a band, and after appearances in nightclubs in Harlem he became one of the most famous figures in American jazz. Ellington's orchestra, playing his own and Billy Strayhorn's compositions and arrangements, achieved a fine unity of style and made many innovations in the jazz idiom. Many instrumental virtuosos worked closely with Ellington for long periods of time. Among his best-known short works are
Mood Indigo, Solitude, and
Sophisticated Lady. He also wrote jazz works of complex orchestration and ambitious scope for concert presentation, notably
Creole Rhapsody (1932),
Black, Brown and Beige (1943),
Liberian Suite (1947),
Harlem (1951), and
Night Creatures (1955), and composed religious music, including three sacred concerts (1965, 1968, and 1973). Ellington made many tours of Europe, appeared in numerous jazz festivals and several films, and made hundreds of recordings. In 1969 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
See his memoirs, Music Is My Mistress (1973); M. Tucker, ed., The Duke Ellington Reader (1993); biographies by B. Ulanov (1946, repr. 1976), J. L. Collier (1989), M. Tucker (1991), J. E. Hass (1993), and A. H. Lawrence (2001); S. Dance, The World of Duke Ellington (1970); M. Ellington (his son) and S. Dance, Duke Ellington in Person (1978).
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Edinburgh, Prince Philip Mountbatten, duke of, 1921-, consort of Queen
Elizabeth II of Great Britain, b. Greece. He was the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice, daughter of Prince Louis of
Battenberg, and a grandson of George I of Greece, great-grandson of Christian IX of Denmark, and great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria. He took an anglicized version of his mother's name, Mountbatten, when he became a British citizen in 1947, and renounced his Greek and Danish titles. Educated at the Royal Navy College, Philip served in the British navy during World War II. He was created duke of Edinburgh shortly before his marriage (Nov. 20, 1947) to Elizabeth. In 1957, Elizabeth conferred upon him the title of Prince. He has been a strong advocate of British scientific and technical innovation, wildlife protection, and conservation.
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Duke, James Buchanan, 1856-1925, American industrialist, processor of tobacco products, b. near Durham, N.C. The Civil War left the Duke family poor, but James and his brother, Benjamin, helped their father in building up a local tobacco-processing business, which soon prospered. Development of cigarette-making machines and extensive advertising gave the Duke company a lead in tobacco manufacturing. Through a long series of mergers with competitors, James Duke organized (1890) and led a trust that, when dissolved by order of the Supreme Court in 1911, controlled 150 factories with a capitalization of $502 million. He left a trust fund to Trinity College that provided for the erection of buildings and facilities; the name of the college was changed to
Duke Univ. He also gave large amounts for hospitals, orphanages, and churches.
See biographies by J. W. Jenkins (1927, repr. 1971) and J. K. Winkler (1942).
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Duke of York Islands, group of 13 coral islands, 23 sq mi (60 sq km), SW Pacific, in the
Bismarck Archipelago, part of Papua New Guinea. There are several coconut plantations. Duke of York Island is the largest of the group, which was formerly called Neu Lauenburg.
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Duke University, at Durham, N. C.; coeducational; opened 1838, chartered 1841 as Union Institute in Randolph County. Reorganized 1852 as Normal College, it became Trinity College (Methodist) in 1859 and moved to Durham in 1892. It was renamed in 1924 for James B.
Duke, who gave it financial assistance. One of the most selective institutions in the country, Duke offers its 11,000 students a wide range of programs including business, engineering, law, and medicine. It is especially well known for literary studies. Research facilities include the Duke Marine Laboratory, the North Carolina Supercomputing Center (affiliated), the Primate Center, and the Institute of the Arts.
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Devonshire, Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th duke of, 1833-1908, British statesman. He became marquess of Hartington in 1858. He frequently held office in Liberal cabinets and by 1880 was a recognized leader of the conservative (Whig) faction of the Liberal party with regard to social legislation. He led the Liberal Unionists who broke (1886) with Gladstone over
Home Rule for Ireland. Devonshire (he became duke in 1891) later (1904) left the Liberal Unionists because the majority of that group, led by Joseph
Chamberlain, had come to favor the abandonment of free trade.
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Cumberland, William Augustus, duke of, 1721-65, British general; third son of George II. Entering the army shortly before the outbreak (1740) of the War of the
Austrian Succession, he was defeated by the French at Fontenoy (1745). Returning to England to put down the 1745 rising of the
Jacobites, he defeated Prince Charles Edward Stuart at Culloden Moor (1746) and earned the nickname "the Butcher" by his ruthless punishment of the rebels. Once more on the Continent, he averted the fall of Maastricht but was again defeated by the French in 1747. In the Seven Years War he signed (1757) a capitulation to the French (the Convention of
Kloster-Zeven) for which he was dismissed.
See two biographical studies by E. Charteris (1913, 1925).
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Connaught, Arthur William Patrick Albert, duke of, 1850-1942, English prince; son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, brother of Edward VII. Trained for a military career, he served in Egypt (1882) and India (1886-90) and as commander in chief in the Mediterranean (1907-9). He was (1911-16) governor-general of Canada. His son, Prince Arthur of Connaught, 1883-1938, was (1920-23) governor-general of South Africa.
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Clarence, Lionel, duke of, 1338-68, third son of Edward III of England. His marriage (1352) to Elizabeth de Burgh gained him the title and lands of the earl of Ulster. Governor of Ireland from 1361 to 1367, he presided (1366) at the assembly where the notorious Statute of Kilkenny was adopted, forbidding marriage between the English settlers and the Irish. Clarence died soon after his later marriage to Violante Visconti. His daughter, Philippa, married Edmund Mortimer, 3d earl of March. Their granddaughter, Anne Mortimer, married Richard, earl of Cambridge, and their son, Richard, duke of
York, derived his claim to the throne through his descent from Lionel.
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Clarence, George, duke of, 1449-78, son of Richard, duke of York, and brother of
Edward IV. In defiance of Edward, Clarence married Isabel Neville and joined her father, Richard Neville, earl of
Warwick, in rebellion against the king in 1469-70. He deserted that party in 1471, however, and was reconciled with Edward. In 1478, exasperated by Clarence's continued factiousness, Edward had him attainted for treason by Parliament. He was sent to the Tower of London, where he was secretly executed. It was rumored that he was drowned in a butt of malmsey wine.
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Buckingham, George Villiers, 2d duke of, 1628-87, English courtier; son of the 1st duke. Brought up with the royal family and educated at Cambridge, he was a strong royalist in the English civil war. In 1648 he escaped to the Continent, where he became a privy councillor of the exiled
Charles II. He accompanied Charles to Scotland in 1650 and fought at Worcester (1651), but later intrigues with Oliver Cromwell's government estranged him from Charles. In 1657, Buckingham returned to England and married Mary, the daughter of the Puritan general Thomas Fairfax of Cameron. He hoped thereby to recover his estates, which had been confiscated in 1651, but instead he was imprisoned until 1659. After the Restoration (1660) he regained the favor of Charles II and was one of the most powerful courtiers of the reign. Vain and ambitious, he was known for his recklessness, quarrelsome temper, and lack of principle. He was a member of the
Cabal and a bitter rival of his fellow minister, the earl of
Arlington. He was furious when he was kept in ignorance of the provisions of the secret Treaty of Dover (1670) with Louis XIV. Attacked by the House of Commons for misusing public funds and conducting secret negotiations with France and by the House of Lords for his open liaison with the countess of Shrewsbury (whose husband he had killed in a duel in 1668), he was dismissed from office in 1674. He joined the enemies of the duke of York (later James II) and participated vigorously in the outcry against Roman Catholics in the furor over Titus Oates's Popish Plot (1678), although he had earlier been much in favor of religious tolerance. He did not vote for exclusion of the duke of York from succession to the throne, however, and in 1684 was restored to favor and retired from politics. Buckingham patronized science and literature, had refined tastes, wrote poetry, religious tracts, and plays, and dabbled in chemistry. He was producer and partial author of a celebrated satire on heroic drama,
The Rehearsal (1671; ed. by Montague Summers, 1914).
See biographies by H. W. Chapman (1949) and J. H. Wilson (1954).
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Buckingham, George Villiers, 1st duke of, 1592-1628, English courtier and royal favorite. He arrived (1614) at the English court as
James I was tiring of his favorite, Robert Carr, earl of Somerset. Villiers was made a gentleman of the bedchamber (1615) and, after Somerset's disgrace, rose rapidly, becoming earl of Buckingham (1617), marquess (1618), and lord high admiral (1619). In 1620 he married Lady Katherine Manners, daughter of the Roman Catholic earl of Rutland. By this time Buckingham controlled dispensation of the king's patronage, which enabled him to grant lucrative monopolies to his relatives. In 1621, Parliament began to investigate abuses of these monopolies, but Buckingham prevented action against himself (though not against his friend Sir Francis
Bacon) by joining in the condemnation of his relatives. Buckingham favored the proposed marriage of Prince Charles (later
Charles I) with the Infanta Maria of Spain and in 1623 went with Charles to Madrid. There his arrogance contributed to the final breakdown of the long deadlocked marriage negotiations. Buckingham, now a duke, returned to England, advocating war with Spain, which made him the hero of Parliament. He lost that popularity rapidly by negotiating (1624) the marriage of Charles with another Catholic princess, Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII of France. He was also blamed for the disastrous failure (Feb.-Mar., 1625) of an English expedition, under Graf von Mansfeld, to recover the Palatinate for
Frederick the Winter King; Buckingham failed to supply it adequately. By this time Charles had become king, and Buckingham was more powerful than ever, a fact that enraged Parliament. After the embarrassing failure (Oct., 1625) of an expedition against Cádiz, Buckingham was impeached (1626), and Charles dissolved Parliament to prevent his trial. The following year Buckingham led an expedition (another disaster) to relieve the
Huguenots of La Rochelle, and Parliament delivered another remonstrance against him. The duke was at Portsmouth preparing yet another expedition for La Rochelle when he was killed by John Felton, a disgruntled naval officer. The romantic aspects of the duke's career figure largely in Alexander Dumas's historical novel,
The Three Musketeers.See biographies by R. Lockyer (1984) and C. Phipps (1985).
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Berwick, James FitzJames, duke of, 1670-1734, marshal of France; illegitimate son of King James II of England and Arabella Churchill, sister of the duke of Marlborough. Born and educated in France, he fought in Hungary against the Ottoman Turks. In 1687, his father, who had ascended the English throne in 1685, created him duke of Berwick. When his father was dethroned (1688), Berwick took part in the invasion of Ireland (1689) against James's successor William III; the effort was supported by King Louis XIV of France, James's ally. After the defeat in Ireland, Berwick fought for France in the War of the Grand Alliance and became (1703) a naturalized Frenchman. He subsequently helped suppress the Protestant
Camisards. In the War of the Spanish Succession (see
Spanish Succession, War of the), he won the decisive victory of Almansa (1707) for King Philip V of Spain, Louis XIV's grandson. In 1709 he campaigned against Prince
Eugene of Savoy in defense of the southeastern frontier of France, and his capture of Barcelona (1714) was the closing event of the war. During the War of the Polish Succession, he commanded (1733) the French army of the Rhine; he was killed at Philippsburg.
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Bedford, William Russell, 5th earl and 1st duke of: see
Russell, family.
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Bedford, John of Lancaster, duke of, 1389-1435, English nobleman; third son of Henry IV of England and brother of Henry V. At the death (1422) of his brother and succession of his 9-month-old nephew, Henry VI, Bedford was designated as regent of France and protector of England. While he was in France his duties in England were to be performed by his younger brother Humphrey, duke of
Gloucester. Bedford devoted himself to the affairs of France. In his attempt to make permanent the English occupation of France, he gave the country an able, if severe, administration, but his position was undermined by the waverings of his ally,
Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, and by the victories of
Joan of Arc, whose execution during his term of office has injured his reputation. He died shortly after the conclusion of a separate peace between Philip and King Charles VII of France, a major setback to the English. His death deprived England of the only man powerful and respected enough to keep balance between the court's hostile factions.
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Bedford, John Russell, 4th duke of: see
Russell, family.
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Bedford, John Robert Russell, 13th duke of: see
Russell, family.
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Bedford, Francis Russell, 5th duke of: see
Russell, family.
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Argyll, John Campbell, 2d duke of, 1678-1743, Scottish general; son of the 1st duke, whom he succeeded in 1703. For his ardent support of the union of England and Scotland he was created (1705) earl of Greenwich. He served under the duke of Marlborough in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) and rose to be commander in chief in Spain in 1711. On his return to Scotland he actively supported the succession of George I. He commanded the army that put down the Jacobite rebellion in 1715 and was made duke of Greenwich in 1719.
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Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 3d duke of, 1682-1761, Scottish nobleman; brother of the 2d duke. As lord high treasurer of Scotland (1705) and a commissioner for the union (1706), he helped negotiate the union (1707) of the kingdoms of Scotland and England. He had been created earl of Islay in 1705, and he sat as a Scottish representative peer in the united Parliament from 1707 until his death. Consistently loyal to the Hanoverian kings, he held high offices in Scotland and promoted the trade, industry, and schools of his native land. He succeeded his brother as duke in 1743.
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Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 1st duke of, d. 1703, Scottish nobleman; eldest son of the 9th earl of Argyll. Having unsuccessfully sought favor with James II in order to recover the estates forfeited by his father, he supported the cause of William of Orange and formally offered William and Mary the crown of Scotland in 1689. Since his support was important to William, particularly as a basis for encouraging the submission of the clans, he was restored to his estates and made a privy councilor. He remained William's chief adviser on Scottish affairs and was made a duke (1701). Although two companies from his regiment were used to perpetrate the massacre (1692) of the MacDonalds of Glencoe, it is unlikely that he was in any way personally involved.
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Aosta, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, duke of, 1869-1931, Italian general; son of King Amadeus of Spain and cousin of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. In World War I he held the Piave front after the Italian defeat at Caporetto and later occupied Friuli. He became a marshal in 1926. His son Amadeus (1898-1942), who succeeded to his title, was viceroy of Ethiopia (1937-41). He surrendered to the British during World War II after a valiant defense.
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Albemarle, George Monck or Monk, 1st duke of: see
Monck, George.
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Albany, Robert Stuart or Stewart, 1st duke of: see
Stuart, Robert, 1st duke of Albany.
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Albany, Alexander Stuart or Stewart, duke of: see
Stuart, Alexander, duke of Albany.
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European h1 of nobility, the highest rank below a prince or king except in countries having such h1s as archduke or grand duke. The wife of a duke is a duchess. The Romans gave the h1 dux to high military commanders with territorial responsibilities. It was adopted by the barbarian invaders of the Roman Empire and was used in their kingdoms and also in France and Germany for rulers of very large areas. In some European countries a duke is a sovereign prince who rules an independent duchy. In Britain, where there were no ducal h1s until 1337, it is a hereditary h1.
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(born May 1, 1769, Dublin, Ire.—died Sept. 14, 1852, Walmer Castle, Kent, Eng.) British general. Son of the Irish earl of Mornington, he entered the army in 1787 and served in the Irish Parliament (1790–97). Sent to India in 1796, he commanded troops to victories in the Maratha War (1803). Back in England, he served in the British House of Commons and as chief secretary in Ireland (1807–09). Commanding British troops in the Peninsular War, he won battles against the French in Portugal and Spain and invaded France to win the war in 1814, for which he was promoted to field marshal and created a duke. After Napoleon renewed the war against the European powers, the “Iron Duke” commanded the Allied armies to victory at the Battle of Waterloo (1815). Richly rewarded by English and foreign sovereigns, he became one of the most honoured men in Europe. After commanding the army of occupation in France (1815–18) and serving in the Tory cabinet as master general of ordnance (1818–27), he served as prime minister (1828–30), but he was forced to resign after opposing any parliamentary reform. He was honoured on his death by a monumental funeral and burial in St. Paul's Cathedral alongside Horatio Nelson.
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Duke von Mecklenburg(born Sept. 24, 1583, Herhacekmanice, Bohemia—died Feb. 25, 1634, Eger) Austrian general. A noble of Bohemia, he served with the future Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II in the campaign against Venice in 1617. He remained loyal to Ferdinand when other Bohemian nobles revolted (1618–23) and was made governor of Bohemia and allowed to acquire vast holdings in confiscated estates. Created duke of Friedland (1625), he commanded the imperial armies in the Thirty Years' War. After successes in the war against Denmark (1625–29), he was awarded the principality of Sagan (1627) and the duchy of Mecklenburg (1629). Under pressure from the German princes, Ferdinand was forced to dismiss Wallenstein. Recalled to imperial command in 1631, he drove the Swedish army from Bavaria and Franconia but was defeated at the Battle of Lützen (1632). Believing he had the support of his generals, he mounted a revolt against the emperor (1634) and was assassinated.
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(born 1579, Château of Blain, Brittany, France—died April 13, 1638, Königsfeld, Switz.) French Huguenot leader. At age 16 he entered the army of Henry IV, who made him a peer of France in 1603. After Henry's death (1610), Rohan led the Huguenots in revolt against the government of Marie de Médicis (1615–16) and became the Huguenots' foremost general in the civil wars of the 1620s. He recounted the events of the War of La Rochelle (1627–29) in his celebrated Mémoires. He then went to Venice. After his return to France (1635), he successfully commanded a French expedition against the Habsburgs in Lombardy. In 1637 he went to Switzerland, where he died in the Thirty Years' War battle at Rheinfelden.
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Prince Philip(born June 10, 1921, Corfu, Greece) Husband of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. Son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (1882–1944) and Princess Alice (1885–1969), a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, he was reared in Britain. In World War II he served in combat with the Royal Navy. In 1947 he became a British subject, taking his mother's surname, Mountbatten, and renouncing his right to the Greek and Danish thrones. He married Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and continued on active service in the navy until her accession to the throne in 1952. Charles, prince of Wales, is their son.
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(born Oct. 19, 1610, London, Eng.—died July 21, 1688, Kingston Lacy, Dorset) Anglo-Irish statesman. Born into the prominent Butler family of Ireland, he succeeded to the earldom of Ormonde in 1632. In service to the English crown in Ireland from 1633, he fought against the Catholic rebellion from 1641. He concluded a peace with the Catholic confederacy in 1649, then rallied support for Charles II, but he was forced to flee when Oliver Cromwell landed at Dublin. He was Charles's adviser in exile (1650–60). After the Restoration he was appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland (1662–69, 1677–84), where he encouraged Irish commerce and industry. He was created a duke in 1682.
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Napoléon-Franchooklois-Charles-Joseph Bonaparte(born March 20, 1811, Paris, France—died July 22, 1832, Schönbrunn, Austria) The only son of Napoleon and Marie-Louise, he was born during Napoleon's reign as emperor and styled “King of Rome.” On Napoleon's abdication (1814), Marie-Louise took her son to live at the court of her father, Emperor Francis II, rather than allow him to remain in France as the focus of resistance as Napoleon II. Given the Austrian h1 of duke of Reichstadt, he was controlled by Klemens, prince von Metternich. In 1830 Bonapartist insurgents attempted to restore Reichstadt as Napoleon II, but he was already ill with tuberculosis, which would kill him.
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(born March 15, 1493, Chantilly, France—died Nov. 12, 1567, Paris) French soldier and constable of France. Named for his godmother, Queen Anne of Brittany, he served three kings—Francis I, Henry II, and Charles IX—in war and peace. He fought in numerous wars in northern Italy and southern France against Emperor Charles V and in campaigns against the Huguenots. In 1529 he helped negotiate the Peace of Cambrai between France and Charles V. He was created constable of France in 1538, and he became a duke and peer in 1551. Wounded at the Battle of Saint-Denis, he died two days later.
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(born March 1340, Ghent—died Feb. 3, 1399, London, Eng.) English prince, the fourth son of Edward III. John's additional name, “Gaunt” (a corruption of the name of his birthplace, Ghent), was not used after he was three years old; it became the popularly accepted form of his name, however, through its use in William Shakespeare's play Richard II. John served as a commander in the Hundred Years' War against France, then returned to become an important influence in his father's last years as king and in the reign of his nephew Richard II. Through his first wife, John acquired the duchy of Lancaster in 1362, and he was the immediate ancestor of the three 15th-century monarchs of the house of Lancaster: Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI.
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orig.
Edward Kennedy Ellington
Duke Ellington.
(born April 29, 1899, Washington, D.C., U.S.—died May 24, 1974, New York, N.Y.) U.S. pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. He formed his band in 1924 in Washington, D.C.; by 1927 it was performing regularly at the
Cotton Club in Harlem. Until the end of his life his band would enjoy the highest professional and artistic reputation in jazz. First known for his distinctive “jungle” sound—a description derived from the use of growling muted brass and sinister harmonies—Ellington increasingly integrated blues elements into his music. He composed with the idiosyncratic sounds of his instrumentalists in mind. Many of his players spent most of their careers with the band; they included saxophonists
Johnny Hodges and Harry Carney, bassist
Jimmy Blanton, trombonists Tricky Sam Nanton and Lawrence Brown, and trumpeters Bubber Miley and Cootie Williams. Pianist
Billy Strayhorn was Ellington's frequent collaborator. Ellington composed a massive body of work, including music for dancing, popular songs, large-scale concert works, musical theatre, and film scores. His best-known compositions include “Mood Indigo,” “Satin Doll,” “Don't Get Around Much Anymore,” and “Sophisticated Lady.”
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(born Dec. 23, 1856, Durham, N.C., U.S.—died Oct. 10, 1925, New York, N.Y.) U.S. tobacco magnate and philanthropist. He and his brother Benjamin (1855–1929) entered the family tobacco business. In 1890 James became president of the American Tobacco Co., which controlled the entire U.S. tobacco industry until antitrust laws caused it, in 1911, to be broken into several companies that would become the principal U.S. cigarette makers. He oversaw the family's contributions to Trinity College in Durham, which was renamed Duke University.
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Private university in Durham, N.C. It was created in 1924 through an endowment from James B. Duke, although the original college (Trinity) traces its roots to the mid 19th century. Duke maintained separate campuses for undergraduate men and women until the 1970s. Besides an undergraduate liberal arts college, the university includes schools of business, divinity, engineering, environmental studies, graduate studies, law, medicine (including a medical centre), and nursing.
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orig.
George Villiers(born Jan. 30, 1628, London, Eng.—died April 16, 1687, Kirkby Moorside, Yorkshire) English politician. Born eight months before the assassination of his father, the 1st duke of Buckingham, he was brought up with the family of Charles I. He fought for Charles II in the English Civil Wars, and after the Restoration in 1660 Buckingham became a leading member of the king's inner circle of ministers, known as the Cabal. Parliament had him dismissed from his posts for alleged Catholic sympathies in 1674.
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