General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Lord Robert Bertie (14 November 1721 – 10 March 1782) was a senior British Army officer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1751 to 1782.

Early life

Bertie was the fifth son of Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and the third son by the Duke's second wife Albinia Farrington and was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

in 1728. In 1745 he inherited his mother's estate at

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater L ...

.Paula Watson
BERTIE, Lord Robert (1721-82), of Chislehurst, Kent.
in ''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754'' (1970). Online version Retrieved 25 August 2012.

Military career

Bertie joined the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonia ...

as an ensign in 1737, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1741 and captain in 1744. He was granted brevet rank as colonel in 1752, major-general in 1758, lieutenant-general in 1760 and general in 1777. He was Regimental Colonel of the

7th Regiment of Foot 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

from 1754 to 1776, and of the

2nd Troop of Horse Guards {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The 2nd Troop of Horse Guards was originally formed in 1659 for Spanish service as Monck's Life Guards. It was successively renamed 3rd, or The Duke of Albemarle's Troop of Horse Guards (1660), 3rd, or The Lord Gene ...

from 1776 to 1782. Bertie also commanded a regiment of

fusilier Fusilier is a name given to various kinds of soldiers; its meaning depends on the historical context. While fusilier is derived from the 17th-century French language, French word ''fusil'' – meaning a type of flintlock musket – the term has ...

s which filled billets to

Admiral John Byng Admiral John Byng (baptised 29 October 1704 – 14 March 1757) was a British Royal Navy officer who was court-martialled and executed by firing squad. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen, he participated at the Battle of Cape Passa ...

's fleet in 1756, then short of men. Bertie later defended the admiral at Byng's court-martial.Dudly Pope, At Twelve Mr. Byng Was Shot, (Philadelphia: Lippencourt, 1962), 266-7. He was

Governor of Cork The Governor of Cork was a military officer who commanded the garrison at Cork in Ireland. The office became a sinecure and in 1833 was abolished from the next vacancy. List of governors of Cork Governors *1644: Major Muschamp *1651: Colonel R ...

from 1762 to 1768 and Governor of Duncannon from 1768 to 1782.

Later career

Bertie was a

Lord of the Bedchamber Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the royal household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household; the term being fir ...

to the Prince of Wales, later

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, from 1751 until his death. He sat in Parliament for Whitchurch from 1751 to 1754 and for

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

from 1754 to 1782. Bertie died in 1782. In 1762 he had married Mary, widow of

Robert Raymond, 2nd Baron Raymond Lord Raymond, Baron of Abbots Langley in the County of Hertford, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created on 15 January 1731 for Sir Robert Raymond, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. The title became extinct on the deat ...

and daughter of

Montague Blundell, 1st Viscount Blundell Montague Blundell, 1st Viscount Blundell (19 June 1689 – 19 August 1756), known as Sir Montague Blundell, Bt, between 1707 and 1720, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1722. Blundell was the son of Sir Francis ...

; they had no children.

References

Sources

* Mary M. Drummond
BERTIE, Lord Robert (1721-82), of Chislehurst, Kent
in ''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790'' (1964). Online version Retrieved 25 August 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertie, Robert 1721 births 1782 deaths People educated at Eton College British Life Guards officers Coldstream Guards officers Younger sons of dukes Royal Fusiliers officers British Army generals British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...