Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (Frederick Augustus; 16 August 1763 – 5 January 1827) was the second son of George III,

King of the United Kingdom The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...

and Hanover, and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A soldier by profession, from 1764 to 1803 he was Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück in the Holy Roman Empire. From the death of his father in 1820 until his own death in 1827, he was the heir presumptive to his elder brother, George IV, in both the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Hanover. Frederick was thrust into the British Army at a very early age and was appointed to high command at the age of thirty, when he was given command of a notoriously ineffectual campaign during the War of the First Coalition, a continental war following the French Revolution. Later, as Commander-in-Chief during the Napoleonic Wars, he oversaw the reorganisation of the British Army, establishing vital structural, administrative and recruiting reformsGlover, (1963), p.12 for which he is credited with having done "more for the army than any one man has done for it in the whole of its history".''The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army'' (1994) p. 145

Early life

Prince Frederick Augustus belonged to the House of Hanover.Heathcote, p. 127. He was born on 16 August 1763, at

St. James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Alt ...

, London. His father was the reigning British monarch, King George III. His mother was Queen Charlotte (née Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz). He was christened on 14 September 1763 at St James's, by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, Thomas Secker—his godparents were his great-uncle the Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (for whom the Earl Gower, Lord Chamberlain, stood proxy), his uncle the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

(for whom the Earl of Huntingdon,

Groom of the Stool The Groom of the Stool (formally styled: "Groom of the King's Close stool, Close Stool") was the most intimate of an List of English monarchs, English monarch's courtiers, responsible for assisting the king in excretion and hygiene. The physica ...

, stood proxy) and his great-aunt the Princess Amelia. On 27 February 1764, when Prince Frederick was six months old, he became Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück upon the death of Clemens August of Bavaria. The

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pea ...

stipulated that the city of Osnabrück would alternate between Catholic and Protestant rulers, with the Protestant bishops to be elected from the cadets of the

House of Brunswick-Lüneburg The Duchy of Brunswick (german: Herzogtum Braunschweig) was a historical German state. Its capital was the city of Brunswick (). It was established as the successor state of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by the Congress of Vienna ...

. The bishopric of Osnabrück came with a substantial income, which he retained until the city was incorporated into Hanover in 1803 during the German mediatisation. He was invested as Knight of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath on 30 December 1767Cokayne, p.921 and as a Knight of the

Order of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George C ...

on 19 June 1771.

Military career

George III decided that his second son would pursue an army career and had him gazetted colonel on 4 November 1780. From 1781 to 1787, Prince Frederick lived in Hanover, where he studied (along with his younger brothers, Prince Edward, Prince Ernest, Prince Augustus and

Prince Adolphus Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, (Adolphus Frederick; 24 February 1774 – 8 July 1850) was the tenth child and seventh son of the British king George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He held the title of Duke of Cambridge from 18 ...

) at the University of Göttingen. He was appointed colonel of the 2nd Horse Grenadier Guards (now

2nd Life Guards The 2nd Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 2nd Troop of Horse Guards and 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamated ...

) on 26 March 1782 before being promoted to major-general on 20 November 1782. Promoted to lieutenant general on 27 October 1784, he was appointed colonel of the Coldstream Guards on 28 October 1784. He was created Duke of York and Albany and Earl of Ulster on 27 November 1784 and became a member of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. On his return to Great Britain, the Duke took his seat in the House of Lords, where, on 15 December 1788 during the Regency crisis, he opposed William Pitt's Regency Bill in a speech which was supposed to have been influenced by the Prince of Wales. On 26 May 1789 he took part in a duel with Colonel Charles Lennox, who had insulted him; Lennox missed, and Prince Frederick refused to return fire.

Flanders

On 12 April 1793, Frederick was promoted to full general.Heathcote, p.128 That year, he was sent to Flanders in command of the British contingent of Coburg's army destined for the invasion of France. Frederick and his command fought in the

Flanders campaign The Flanders Campaign (or Campaign in the Low Countries) was conducted from 20 April 1792 to 7 June 1795 during the first years of the War of the First Coalition. A coalition of states representing the Ancien Régime in Western Europe – Aus ...

under extremely trying conditions. He won several notable engagements, such as the Siege of Valenciennes in July 1793, but was defeated at the Battle of Hondschoote in September 1793. In the 1794 campaign he gained a notable success at the Battle of Beaumont in April and another at the Battle of Willems in May but was defeated at the

Battle of Tourcoing The Battle of Tourcoing (17–18 May 1794) saw a Republican French army directed by General of Division Joseph Souham defend against an attack by a Coalition army led by Emperor Francis II and Austrian Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. T ...

later that month. The British army was evacuated through

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

in April 1795.

Commander-in-Chief

After his return to Britain, his father George III promoted him to the rank of

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

on 18 February 1795. On 3 April 1795, George appointed him effective Commander-in-Chief in succession to Lord AmherstGlover, (1973), p.128 although the title was not confirmed until three years later. He was also colonel of the 60th Regiment of Foot from 19 August 1797. On appointment as Commander-in-Chief he immediately declared, reflecting on the

Flanders Campaign The Flanders Campaign (or Campaign in the Low Countries) was conducted from 20 April 1792 to 7 June 1795 during the first years of the War of the First Coalition. A coalition of states representing the Ancien Régime in Western Europe – Aus ...

of 1793–94, "that no officer should ever be subject to the same disadvantages under which he had laboured". His second field command was with the army sent for the

Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland The Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland (or Anglo-Russian expedition to Holland, or Helder Expedition) was a military campaign from 27 August to 19 November 1799 during the War of the Second Coalition, in which an expeditionary force of British and ...

in August 1799. On 7 September 1799, he was given the honorary title of Captain-General. Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell, in charge of the vanguard, had succeeded in capturing some Dutch warships in

Den Helder Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO fe ...

. However, following the Duke's arrival with the main body of the army, a number of disasters befell the allied forces, including shortage of supplies.Heathcote, p. 129 On 17 October 1799, the Duke signed the Convention of Alkmaar, by which the allied expedition withdrew after giving up its prisoners. 1799 also saw

Fort Frederick Fort Frederick may refer to: Canada *Fort Frederick (Newfoundland) * Fort Frederick (Kingston, Ontario) *Fort Frederick (Saint John, New Brunswick), built at the mouth of the St. John River in 1758 by the British during the St. John River Campai ...

in South Africa named after him. Frederick's military setbacks of 1799 were inevitable given his lack of experience as a field commander, the poor state of the British army at the time, and the conflicting military objectives of the protagonists. After this ineffectual campaign, Frederick was mocked, perhaps unfairly, in the rhyme "

The Grand Old Duke of York "The Grand Old Duke of York" (also sung as The Noble Duke of York) is an English children's nursery rhyme, often performed as an action song. The eponymous duke has been argued to be a number of the bearers of that title, particularly Prince Fre ...

Frederick's experience in the Dutch campaign made a strong impression on him. That campaign, and the Flanders campaign, had demonstrated the numerous weaknesses of the British army after years of neglect. Frederick as Commander-in-Chief of the British army carried through a massive programme of reform. He was the person most responsible for the reforms that created the force which served in the Peninsular War. He was also in charge of the preparations against Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom in 1803. In the opinion of Sir John Fortescue, Frederick did "more for the army than any one man has done for it in the whole of its history". In 1801 Frederick actively supported the foundation of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, which promoted the professional, merit-based training of future commissioned officers. On 14 September 1805 he was given the honorary title of Warden of Windsor Forest. Frederick resigned as Commander-in-Chief on 25 March 1809, as the result of a scandal caused by the activities of his latest mistress, Mary Anne Clarke. Clarke was accused of illicitly selling army commissions under Frederick's aegis. A select committee of the House of Commons enquired into the matter. Parliament eventually acquitted Frederick of receiving bribes by 278 votes to 196. He nevertheless resigned because of the high tally against him. Two years later, it was revealed that Clarke had received payment for furniture from Frederick's disgraced chief accuser, Gwyllym Wardle, and the Prince Regent reappointed the exonerated Frederick as Commander-in-Chief on 29 May 1811. The Duke's relationship with Mary Anne Clarke is used by Mary Anne's descendant, Daphne du Maurier, in her historical novel Mary Anne. Frederick maintained a country residence at Oatlands near Weybridge,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

but he was seldom there, preferring to immerse himself in his administrative work at Horse Guards (the British army's headquarters) and, after hours, in London's high life, with its gaming tables: Frederick was perpetually in debt because of his excessive gambling on cards and racehorses. Following the unexpected death of his niece,

Princess Charlotte of Wales Princess Charlotte of Wales may refer to: * Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796–1817), the only child of George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV of the United Kingdom ** Princess Charlotte of Wales (1812 EIC ship), a ship named after the pri ...

, in 1817, Frederick became second in line to the throne, with a serious chance of inheriting it.Heathcote, p. 130 In 1820, he became heir presumptive with the death of his father, George III.

Death

Frederick died of dropsy and apparent

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

at the home of the Duke of Rutland on Arlington Street, London, in 1827. After lying in state at the

Chapel Royal The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also applie ...

in London, Frederick's remains were interred in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, following his funeral there. Held at night, the chapel was so cold during the funeral that the Foreign Secretary,

George Canning George Canning (11 April 17708 August 1827) was a British Tory statesman. He held various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers, including two important terms as Foreign Secretary, finally becoming Prime Minister of the Unit ...

, contracted

rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful jo ...

, becoming so ill that he thought he might not recover; Canning died on 8 August the same year.

Family

Sir Henry Singleton - The Marriage of the Duke and Duchess of York - 68

Frederick married his third cousin Princess

Frederica Charlotte of Prussia Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia (Friederike Charlotte Ulrike Katharina; 7 May 1767 – 6 August 1820) was a Prussian princess by birth and a British princess by marriage. She was the eldest daughter of King Frederick William II of P ...

, the daughter of King Frederick William II of Prussia and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg, at Charlottenburg, Berlin, on 29 September 1791 and again on 23 November 1791 at

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 ...

. The marriage was not a happy one and the couple soon separated. Frederica retired to Oatlands, where she lived until her death in 1820.

Titles, styles, honours, and arms

Coat of Arms of Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany

Titles and styles

*16 August 1763 – 27 November 1784: ''His Royal Highness'' The Prince Frederick *27 November 1784 – 5 January 1827: ''His Royal Highness'' The Duke of York and Albany

Honours

His honours were as follows: *Royal Knight of the

, ''19 June 1771'' *Knight Grand Cross (military) of the Order of the Bath, ''2 January 1815'' *Knight Grand Cross of the

Royal Guelphic Order The Royal Guelphic Order (german: Königliche Guelphen-Orden), sometimes referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent (later King George IV). It takes its name ...

, ''12 August 1815'' *Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle of Prussia, ''11 April 1814'' *Knight of the Order of the St-Esprit of France, ''21 April 1814''''The Complete Peerage, Volume XII, Part II'' (1959), page 923, St Catherine's Press (London), editors Godfrey H. White and R.S. Lea. *Knight of the Order of St. Andrew of Russia, ''9 June 1814'' *Knight of the

Order of St. Alexander Nevsky The Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was an order of chivalry of the Russian Empire first awarded on by Empress Catherine I of Russia. History The introduction of the Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was envisioned by Emperor ...

of Russia, ''9 June 1814'' *Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III of Spain, ''21 August 1814'' *Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa of Austria, ''1814''

Legacy

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

, the capital of the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

of New Brunswick, was named after Prince Frederick. The city was originally named "Frederick's Town". Also in Canada,

Duke of York Bay Duke of York Bay is an arm of Foxe Basin, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is located in northeastern Southampton Island. The bay is directly south of the southern end of White Island, with Comer Strait at the western entrance and ...

was named in his honour, since it was discovered on his birthday, 16 August. In Western Australia, York County and the towns of York and Albany were named after Prince Frederick.West, D.A.P., ''The Settlement on the Sound – Discovery and settlement of the Albany Region 1791–1831'', Western Australian Museum, Perth, 1976, reprinted 2004. pp. 55–115. Albany was originally named "Frederick Town". The towering Duke of York Column on Waterloo Place, just off The Mall, London was completed in 1834 as a memorial to Prince Frederick. The

72nd Regiment of Foot The 72nd Highlanders was a British Army Scottish regiment, Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line. Raised in 1778, it was originally numbered 78th, before being redesignated the 72nd in 1786. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 78 ...

was given the title ''Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders'' in 1823 and, in 1881, became 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's). The first British fortification in southern Africa, Fort Frederick,

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

, a city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, was built in 1799 to prevent French assistance for rebellious Boers in the short-lived republic of Graaff-Reinet.

Ancestors

References and notes

Sources

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