General Marcus Beresford (28 July 1800 – 16 March 1876) was an officer of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and politician in England.

Early life

Beresford was born on 28 July 1800 in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He was the second son of the Rev. George Beresford and his wife Susan Gorges. His grandfathers were Archbishop

William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies (16 April 1743 – 6 September 1819) was an Anglo-Irish clergyman. Early life Decies was the third son, out of seven sons and eight daughters, of Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone (himself the only son of ...

and Hamilton Gorges MP, of Kilbrew. His great-uncle

George Beresford, 1st Marquess of Waterford George de la Poer Beresford, 1st Marquess of Waterford, KP, PC (Ire) (8 January 1735 – 3 December 1800) was an Irish politician, known as George Beresford, 2nd Earl of Tyrone from 1763 to 1789. Beresford was the eldest son of Marcus Ber ...

, had two illegitimate sons,

William Carr Beresford General William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 1st Marquis of Campo Maior, (; 2 October 1768 – 8 January 1854) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician. A general in the British Army and a Marshal in the Portuguese Army, he foug ...

, created Viscount Beresford in 1814, and Sir John Beresford, "both of whom influenced the course of his career." He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and graduated from

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

in 1815.

Career

He was Member of Parliament for

Northallerton Northallerton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It had a population of 16,832 in the 2011 census, an increase ...

from 1824 to 1826. At the next general election, he made way for Sir John Beresford at Northallerton and stood for

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

, where his family had recently established an interest, serving from 1826 to 1832. "In the House, Beresford followed his family’s Tory line." After he was defeated in his bid to return to the House, he resumed his military career and served for five years as military secretary to the Indian commander-in-chief. He was made a full General on 4 March 1866 and given the colonelcy of the 20th Foot from 1858 to his death in 1876.

Personal life

On 1 October 1828, he married his first cousin, Isabella Sewell, a daughter of Thomas Bermingham Daly Henry Sewell and Hon. Harriet Beresford. Before her death in August 1836, they were the parents of: * Harriet Louisa Beresford (d. 1876), who died unmarried. * Isabella Eliza Beresford (d. 1915), who married married Lt.-Gen. George Brydges Rodney, a son of Capt. Hon. John Rodney (son of the 1st Baron Rodney), in 1856. After the death of his first wife, he married Caroline Fane, daughter of William Fane and Louisa Hay Dashwood, on 22 January 1838 in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, India. Together, they were the parents of: * Marcus de la Poer Beresford (b. 1847), a Major in the 4th Battalion,

Royal Warwickshire Regiment The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, previously titled the 6th Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. The regiment saw service in many conflicts and wars, including the Second Boer War ...

. * Ethel Louisa Beresford (1856–1925), who married Capt. Henry Spencer, son of Rev. Hon. Charles Spencer (son of 1st Baron Churchill), 1880.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes.'' Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999, volume 1, page 573. General Beresford died on 16 March 1876.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 1061.

References

External links

* 1800 births 1876 deaths English people of Irish descent 19th-century English people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1820–1826 UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs 1830–1831 UK MPs 1831–1832 Royal Scots Fusiliers officers Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) officers Lancashire Fusiliers officers British Army generals Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies Alumni of Trinity College Dublin {{UK-army-bio-stub