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 ...

Thomas William Fermor, 4th Earl of Pomfret FRS (12 October 1770 – 29 June 1833), styled The Honourable Thomas Fermor until 1830, was an officer in 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 ...

who fought in the

French Revolutionary The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

and

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

Early life

Fermor was the second son of George Fermor, 2nd Earl of Pomfret (1722–1785), by Miss Anna Maria Drayton of Sunbury, Middlesex.

Military career

Fermor was appointed to an ensigncy in the 3rd Foot Guards. He served in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

in 1793, and was present at the

Battle of Famars The Battle of Famars was fought on 23 May 1793 during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition. An Allied Austrian, Hanoverian, and British army under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld defeated the French Army of the North le ...

, the sieges of Valenciennes and

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.battle of Lincelles The Battle of Lincelles was an action that took place as part of a larger manoeuvre on 17 August 1793 in the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition. It was fought between the forces of Revolutionary France under the command of J ...

. In 1794 he was promoted to a lieutenancy. He served in Ireland during the rebellion, and in 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 ...

, where he took part in the several actions. On 16 March 1800 he was appointed to a company with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He served with the guards in the

Peninsula War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, ...

until his promotion to the rank of major-general on 4 June 1813. For the

Battle of Salamanca The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of Arapiles) on 22July 1812 was a battle in which an Anglo-Portuguese army under the Earl of Wellington defeated Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces at Arapiles, so ...

he received a medal; he was also a knight of the Portuguese

Order of the Tower and Sword The Ancient and Most Noble Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of the Valour, Loyalty and Merit ( pt, Antiga e Muito Nobre Ordem Militar da Torre e Espada, do Valor, Lealdade e Mérito), before 1910 Royal Military Order of the Tower an ...

, which he obtained permission to accept 11 May 1813. His last commission as lieutenant-general bore the date 27 May 1825. Fermor succeeded his brother

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

(1768–1830) as 4th

Earl of Pomfret Earl of Pomfret (alias Pontefract) was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain created in 1721 for Thomas Fermor, 2nd Baron Leominster. It became extinct upon the death of the fifth earl in 1867. Ancestral titles and achievements The Fermor f ...

on 7 April 1830. Pomfret, who was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1805 and was also a

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

Personal life

On 13 January 1823 Lord Pomfret married Amabel Elizabeth Borough, eldest daughter of Sir Richard Borough, 1st Baronet (1756–1837). They had two sons and two daughters and he was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son,

George Fermor, 5th Earl of Pomfret George William Richard Fermor, 5th Earl of Pomfret (3 December 1824 - 8 June 1867) was an English peer. He was the eldest son of Thomas Fermor, 4th Earl of Pomfret, who he succeeded in 1833, inheriting Easton Neston house. He died unmarried on 8 ...

. Lord Pomfret died 29 June 1833. After his death, his widow Amabel married, secondly, in May 1834, William Thorpe, D.D., of Belgrave Chapel, Pimlico. cites: ''

Gentlemen's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

''. new ser. ii. 101

References

;Attribution * **''Gentlemen's Magazine'' volume ciii. part ii. pages 78–9 **Collins's ''Peerage'' (Brydges), iv. 207 **Burke's ''Extinct Peerage'', 1883, p. 608. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pomfret, Thomas William Fermor, 4th Earl Of 1770 births 1833 deaths 4 British Army generals Fellows of the Royal Society British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars British Army personnel of the Peninsular War British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars