Colonel Francis Marcus Beresford (August 1818 – 1 August 1890) was a British Conservative Party politician

Early life and education

He was born at

Aylestone Aylestone is a suburb of Leicester, England, southwest of the city centre and to the east of the River Soar. It was formerly a separate village, but the growth of the city since the Leicester Extension Act of 1891 incorporated Aylestone into ...

, Leicestershire, the fourth son of Rev Gilbert Beresford and his wife Anne. He was educated at

King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a public school in Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The school was founded in 1829 by King George IV, as the junior department of King's College London an ...

, and went into business as a

wharfinger Wharfinger (pronounced ''wor-fin-jer)'' is an archaic term for a person who is the keeper or owner of a wharf. The wharfinger takes custody of and is responsible for goods delivered to the wharf, typically has an office on the wharf or dock, and ...

Career

During the invasion scare of 1859, Beresford raised the 7th (Southwark) Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps in December and commanded it with the rank of

Captain-Commandant ''Captain-commandant'' is a rank currently used in the Belgian Armed Forces and formerly used in the United States Revenue Cutter Service and its successor, the United States Coast Guard. Belgian Armed Forces Captain-commandant is a company grade ...

.Ray Westlake, ''Tracing the Rifle Volunteers'', Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2010, ISBN 978-1-84884-211-3, pp. 230–3. By February 1860 the unit had six companies, and Beresford was promoted to Major-Commandant. He was promoted 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 colo ...

on 19 November 1864. After his retirement from the command, he was appointed the Honorary Colonel of the battalion (later the 4th Volunteer Battalion, East Surrey Regiment) on 25 January 1873.''Army List''. He was elected at a by-election in February 1870 as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for Southwark. He was re-elected in 1874, and held the seat until he stood down at the 1880 general election.

Personal life

He married twice. Firstly, Elizabeth Green, the daughter of George Green, on 20 September 1848 at St. Oswald Parish Church,

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

. They had six children. Secondly, Eleanor Richardson on 2 June 1881 at St. George, Hanover Square, London. His daughter Selina (1859–1938) married Sir Hay Frederick Donaldson, the son of Sir

Stuart Donaldson Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson (16 December 1812 – 11 January 1867) was the first Premier of the Colony of New South Wales. Early life Donaldson was born in London, England. He entered his father's firm at the age of 15 and was sent first t ...

. He died on 1 August 1890 at Cliftonthorpe, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, and is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...

, London.

References

External links

* 1818 births 1890 deaths East Surrey Regiment officers Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 Burials at Brompton Cemetery 19th-century British people People from Aylestone 19th-century British military personnel People educated at King's College School, London {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1810s-stub