Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

Wellington Henry Stapleton-Cotton, 2nd Viscount Combermere (24 November 1818 – 1 December 1891) was a British soldier and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

politician.

Early life

Combermere was born at Duncombe House, St. Thomas,

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

,https://www.archives.bb/ the son of Field Marshal

Stapleton Stapleton-Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere Field Marshal Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere (14 November 1773 – 21 February 1865), was a British Army officer, diplomat and politician. As a junior officer he took part in the Flanders Campaign, in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War and ...

(then Governor of Barbados and the

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean Sea No ...

), and Caroline, daughter of William Greville.thepeerage.com
/ref> He was educated at

Audlem Audlem is a village and civil parish located in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in North West England, approximately south of Nantwich. Close to the border with the neighbouring county of Shropshire, t ...

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

, Cheshire, and

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 ...

, then briefly attended Christ Church, Oxford in 1837 before entering the army.

Military and political career

Stapleton-Cotton was commissioned into the 7th Hussars in 1837, and served in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, where the regiment took part in suppressing the

Papineau Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (french: rébellion du Bas-Canada), commonly referred to as the Patriots' War () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now southe ...

, before returning to England in 1841, when he exchanged his commission into the 1st Life Guards. He was promoted captain in 1846, and major in 1850, holding a staff position as Secretary to the

Master General of Ordnance The Master-General of the Ordnance (MGO) was a very senior British military position from 1415 to 2013 (except 1855–1895 and 1939–1958) with some changes to the name, usually held by a serving general. The Master-General of the Ordnance was ...

from March to December 1852. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1857, and achieved the rank of full colonel in 1861, retiring from the army in 1866. Throughout his military career and on Combermere distinguished himself as a sportsman acquiring a reputation of being a good shooter, steeple chase rider, and keen fly-fisherman. He also bred horses, was a keen fox-hunter, and often judged at the Royal Agricultural and other shows in Islington and Birmingham. In 1847, he was returned to Parliament for

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest ...

, a seat he held until 1857. In 1865 he succeeded his father in the viscountcy and entered the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

Personal life

In 1844 Lord Combermere married Susan Alice Sitwell. She was the daughter of Sir George Sitwell, 2nd Baronet of

Renishaw Hall Renishaw Hall is a country house in Renishaw in the parish of Eckington in Derbyshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building and has been the home of the Sitwell family for nearly 400 years. The hall is southeast of Sheffield, and north of R ...

and Susan Tait, sister of

The Most Rev. The Most Reverend is a style applied to certain religious figures, primarily within the historic denominations of Christianity, but occasionally in some more modern traditions also. It is a variant of the more common style "The Reverend". Anglic ...

& Rt. Hon.

Archibald Campbell Tait Archibald Campbell Tait (21 December 18113 December 1882) was an Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England and theologian. He was the first Scottish Archbishop of Canterbury and thus, head of the Church of England. Life Tait was bo ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury. Before her death in 1869, they were the parents of two sons and two daughters: * Robert Wellington Stapleton-Cotton (1845–1898), who married Isabel Marian ( née Chetwynd) Poole, the former wife of the

High Sheriff of Cheshire This is a list of Sheriffs (and after 1 April 1974, High Sheriffs) of Cheshire. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most ...

Cudworth Halsted Poole of Marbury Hall. * Col. Hon. Richard Southwell George Stapleton-Cotton (1849–1925), the Inspector-General of British Guiana Police from 1889 to 1891; he married Hon. Jane Charlotte Methuen, second daughter of

Frederick Methuen, 2nd Baron Methuen Frederick Henry Paul Methuen, 2nd Baron Methuen (23 February 1818 – 26 September 1891), was a British peer and Liberal politician. Methuen was the son of Paul Methuen, 1st Baron Methuen, and his wife Jane Dorothea (née St John-Mildmay). He ...

, in 1870. * Hon. Susan Caroline Mary Stapleton-Cotton (d. 1916), who married Lt.-Col. Cecil Lennox Peel, fourth son of

Laurence Peel Laurence Peel (28 June 1801 – 10 December 1888) was a British Tory politician and the younger brother of Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Laurence was described by one historian as "the youngest and least ...

(sixth son of

Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet (25 April 1750 – 3 May 1830) was a British politician and industrialist and one of early textile manufacturers of the Industrial Revolution. He is one of ten known British millionaires in 1799. He was the father ...

) and Lady Jane Lennox (herself the fourth daughter of Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond) in 1867. * Hon. Hester Alice Stapleton-Cotton (d. 1930), who married Lord Alexander Victor Paget, second son of

Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey (6 July 1797 – 7 February 1869), styled Lord Paget 1812 and 1815 and Earl of Uxbridge from 1815 to 1854, was a Welsh peer and Whig politician. He served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household between 183 ...

and his second wife Henrietta Maria Bagot (third daughter of Rt. Hon. Sir

Charles Bagot Sir Charles Bagot GCB (23 September 1781 – 19 May 1843) was a British politician, diplomat and colonial administrator. He served as ambassador to the United States, Russia, and the Netherlands. He served as the second Governor General of ...

), in 1880. Susan died in August 1869. Lord Combermere survived his wife by 22 years and died of

coronary thrombosis Coronary thrombosis is defined as the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart. This blood clot may then restrict blood flow within the heart, leading to heart tissue damage, or a myocardial infarction, also known as a heart at ...

at his London home in St James' Place in December 1891, aged 73, seven weeks after being run over by a horse-drawn carriage. He was buried at St Margaret's Church, Wrenbury, Cheshire. He was succeeded in the viscountcy by his eldest son,

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 ...

Lord Combermere's ghost photo

The 2nd Viscount Combermere became a posthumous celebrity in connection wit
"Lord Combermere's Ghost Photo"
taken in 1891 by Sybell Corbet. She was Lady Combermere's sister and staying at

Combermere Abbey Combermere Abbey is a former monastery, later a country house, near Burleydam, between Nantwich, Cheshire and Whitchurch, Shropshire, Whitchurch in Shropshire, England, located within Cheshire and near the border with Shropshire. Initially Congre ...

at that time. She set up her camera with its shutter open for one hour in the Abbey Library while the entire staff were out, attending Lord Combermere's funeral at St Margaret's Church, Wrenbury, some four miles away. When the plate was developed, the transparent image of a man sitting in one of the library chairs was noticed. Many of the staff said that the image looked like the late 2nd Viscount, and the apparition happened to be sitting in Lord Combermere's favourite chair. It is thought by some that a servant might have come into the room and sat briefly in the chair, thus creating the image. This idea was refuted by members of Lord Combermere's household. Lord Combermere's father, the 1st Viscount, had been involved in a mysterious incident himself several years earlier while serving as

Governor of Barbados This article contains a list of viceroys in Barbados from its initial colonisation in 1627 by England until it achieved independence in 1966. From 1833 to 1885, Barbados was part of the colony of the Windward Islands, and the governor of Barbad ...

when he had the

Chase Vault The Chase Vault is a burial vault in the cemetery of the Christ Church Parish Church in Oistins, Christ Church, Barbados, best known for a widespread urban legend of "mysterious moving coffins". According to the story, each time the heavily se ...

opened and carefully examined in search of an explanation for the "moving coffins" there.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Combermere, Wellington Stapleton-Cotton, 2nd Viscount 1818 births 1891 deaths Road incident deaths in London Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Antrim constituencies (1801–1922) People educated at Eton College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford People from Bedford British Life Guards officers UK MPs 1847–1852 UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs who inherited peerages Irish Conservative Party MPs