Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Thompson Lawley, 4th Baron Wenlock, CB (1856–1918) was a British Army officer and

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

champion who became the 4th Baron Wenlock and the 11th Lawley Baronet of Spoonhill in 1912.

Early life

Lawley was born on 21 August 1856, the second son and sixth child of Beilby Lawley the 2nd Baron Wenlock and his wife Lady Elizabeth (née Grosvenor).

Military service

Lawley joined the British Army and was commissioned as a

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 ...

in the 7th Hussars on 11 February 1876. He served in the Nile Expedition of 1884–1885, and was 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 21 July 1885, 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 5 May 1893, 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 26 June 1899. In 1902 he served in

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 ...

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 ...

, for which 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 ...

(dated 8 April 1902) 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). He was later colonel commanding the 7th Hussars.

Polo

He won the

International Polo Cup The International Polo Cup, also called the Newport Cup and the Westchester Cup, is a trophy in polo that was created in 1876 and was played for by teams from the United States and United Kingdom. The match has varied in length over the years ...

in 1886 for Britain alongside John Henry Watson, Captain

Thomas Hone Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, and Brigadier-General

Malcolm Orme Little Brigadier-General Malcolm Orme Little, (29 November 1857 – 1 February 1931) was a cavalry officer in the British Army and champion polo player. He commanded a cavalry brigade in the Second Boer War and a yeomanry brigade in the First Wo ...

.Horace A. Laffaye, ''Polo in Britain: A History'', Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2012, p. 33

Family life

He succeeded to the title of

Baron Wenlock Baron Wenlock is a title that has been created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came in 1461 when the soldier Sir John Wenlock was summoned to Parliament as Lord Wen ...

on the death of his brother Beilby Lawley, who had no son to whom to pass on the title. In 1909 he married Rhoda Edith Knox-Little. Wenlock died on 25 July 1918 at his home at

Hestercombe Hestercombe House is a historic country house in the parish of West Monkton in the Quantock Hills, near Taunton in Somerset, England. The house is a Grade II* listed building and the estate is Grade I listed on the English Heritage Register o ...

near Taunton, Devon, aged 61. He had no children so his younger brother, Algernon George Lawley, became the 5th Baron Wenlock.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wenlock, Richard Lawley, 4th Baron 1856 births 1918 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Companions of the Order of the Bath 7th Queen's Own Hussars officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British polo players International Polo Cup Younger sons of barons