Colonel Cecil Henry Law, 6th

Baron Ellenborough Baron Ellenborough, of Ellenborough in the County of Cumberland, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 19 April 1802 for the lawyer, judge and politician Sir Edward Law, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench from ...

, (23 November 1849 – 22 January 1931), was a British Army officer and a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

Baron Ellenborough

Cecil Henry Law was the third son of

Henry Spencer Law Henry Spencer Law (10 May 1802 – 15 July 1885) was the fifth son of Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough, and Anne Towry. He graduated from Cambridge University with a Master of Arts (M.A.). He was a practising barrister at the Inner Temple, and ...

and Dorothea (daughter of Colonel J. S. Rochfort of Clogrenane,

County Carlow County Carlow ( ; ga, Contae Cheatharlach) is a county located in the South-East Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Carlow is the second smallest and the third least populous of Ireland's 32 traditional counties. Carlow Cou ...

). Law was educated at

Wellington College, Berkshire Wellington College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the village of Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. Wellington is a registered charity and currently educates roughly 1,200 pupils, between the ages of 13 and ...

, and the

Royal Military College Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...

, and passed out into the Army in 1869. He succeeded to the peerage on the death of his brother,

Edward Law, 5th Baron Ellenborough Commander Edward Downes Law, 5th Baron Ellenborough (9 May 1841 – 9 December 1915), was a British Royal Navy officer and member of the House of Lords. Naval career Law was educated at Charterhouse and entered the Royal Navy in 1854 aged just 13 ...

, in 1915. He was introduced to the House of Lords on 15 February 1916, immediately after that year's King's Speech.

Military career

Law was commissioned as an officer into the

54th Regiment of Foot The 54th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Dorsetshire Regiment in 1881. History Early history The ...

(from 1881 The

Dorsetshire Regiment The Dorset Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958, being the county regiment of Dorset. Until 1951, it was formally called the Dorsetshire Regiment, although usually known as "The Dorsets". In 19 ...

) in July 1869, was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 28 October 1871, and served in the

Second Anglo-Afghan War The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ps, د افغان-انګرېز دويمه جګړه) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the l ...

1878–1880. Promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 24 January 1883, to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

on 21 June 1890, and to

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

on 19 November 1897, he commanded the 2nd battalion Dorsetshire Regiment during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

from 1900 to 1902 where he was present during the

Relief of Ladysmith When the Second Boer War broke out on 11 October 1899, the Boers had a numeric superiority within Southern Africa. They quickly invaded the British territory and laid siege to Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking. Britain meanwhile transported th ...

, and the battles of

Laing's Nek Laing's Nek, or Lang's Nek is a pass through the Drakensberg mountain range, South Africa, immediately north of Majuba, at at an elevation of 5400 to . It is the lowest part of a ridge which slopes from Majuba to the Buffalo River, and before t ...

and the Tugela Heights. For his services in the war, he was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

three times, received the Queen's Medal with five clasps and the King's Medal with two clasps, and was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(CB) in the April 1901 South Africa Honours list (the award was dated to 29 November 1900; he only received the actual decoration from King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

on 24 October 1902). After the end of the war in June 1902, he returned to the United Kingdom in the , which arrived at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

the following month. Law was placed on

half-pay Half-pay (h.p.) was a term used in the British Army and Royal Navy of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries to refer to the pay or allowance an officer received when in retirement or not in actual service. Past usage United Kingdom In the Eng ...

in August 1902, and retired with the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in 1906.

Family and later life

After his retirement from the British Army, Lord Ellenborough took an active interest in local philanthropic and patriotic institutions. He was for many years Chairman of

Dorset County Hospital Dorset County Hospital is a district general hospital in the town of Dorchester, Dorset, England. The hospital is managed by Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. History Plans were developed in the early 1980s for a modern facility to ...

and President of the Dorset Territorial Army Association. Cecil Henry Law married Alice Caroline Astell in 1884, who died in 1916 (daughter of Mr

John Harvey Astell John Harvey Astell (20 March 1806 – 17 January 1887) was a British Conservative politician. Astell was first elected as a Conservative MP for Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England ...

of Woodbury Hall, Bedfordshire). On his death in 1931, he was succeeded by his son:

Henry Law, 7th Baron Ellenborough Major Henry Astell Law, 7th Baron Ellenborough, (11 July 1889 – 19 May 1945), was a member of the House of Lords. Law was educated at Eton College where he was in the Eton Shooting VIII and at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. On the death ...

Ancestry

References

1849 births 1931 deaths 54th Regiment of Foot officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British people of the Second Anglo-Afghan War Companions of the Order of the Bath Deputy Lieutenants of Dorset

Cecil Cecil may refer to: People with the name * Cecil (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) * Cecil (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Canada *Cecil, Alberta, ...

Younger sons of barons {{UK-baron-stub